Episcopal Church Celebrates Gay Marriage

Officially the Episcopal Church does not support marriage equality. Unoffically many leading clerics in the Episcopal church do. Bishop Thomas Shaw of the Episcopal Diocese in Eastern Massachusetts is quoted in Courting Equality,

The only God that I know from my studying of scripture is a god of justice, a god who demands that every single person have the rights that they need to flourish and live in society.

Shaw was one of the prominent leaders in the Religious Coalition for the Freedom (RCFM) to Marry, a group of 23 Faith Traditions in Massachusetts that lobbied with us for marriage equality. Their tenacity and commitment is credited by many for helping us protect the Massachusetts Constitution and preserve same-sex marriage.

On May 17, 2007, RCFM held a ceremony at the State House where the 1,000th faith leader in Massachusetts signed their petition in support of marriage equality.

On June 14, 2007, the day that the Massachusetts Legislature turned down a November 2008 constitutional ballot amendment–like the one Florida is facing and California may very well be–RCFM staged an amazing show of support. They held a prayer service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and then in their ceremonial robes members of all the faith traditions marched across Boston Common to the State House.

There they stood witness for hours–lest anyone in Massachusetts believe that church leaders were not in support of marriage equality.

On May 18, 2008, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Natick, Massachusetts invited us to present our iMovie of all the photos in Courting Equality and to share our experiences of the movement. Representative David Linsky of Natick joined us for a truly memorable occasion. Read the MetroWest Daily News account of the event. See the mention of the event in

Many in the Episcopal Church are on our side! We want to keep the dialogue going with faith groups.

One response to “Episcopal Church Celebrates Gay Marriage

  1. My grandma is an Episcopalian. She told me that one of her priests is gay. She told me that she has known a lot of gay priests in the past who had to be in the closet. I’m glad that a lot of church leaders are now standing up for gay people. When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the whole point was that Samaritans were looked down on by the Jewish people. Samaritans were outcasts just because they were Samaritans. Jesus was saying that sometimes an outcast may be a better person than the people who are included in society. I have no doubt that Jesus is a supporter of gay marriage.

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