Twenty-two years ago, Reverend Oliver White founded Grace Community United Church of Christ in a low-income black neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a strong congregation with 320 members — until 2005, when White stood up at a synod of the United Church of Christ and voiced his support of gay marriage. Then he came home and told his congregation what he had done.
“I thought they were with me,” he says, “but much to my chagrin, I immediately started losing members.” Over the next few weeks, two thirds of his members left the congregation. […]
How did you become such a strong supporter of gay marriage?
You know, I’ve always felt this way. This is not something I’ve evolved into. I’ve always just felt that people are people. There are all kinds of different people — some are left handed, and others are right handed. Should we discriminate against people because they’re left handed?
That’s how I see it. Many of my friends happen to be gay, and some of my enemies, too. They all deserve the same rights I have in terms of being married, and the joys and benefits come along with that. I would not be inclined to be in relationship with another man, but it’s not for me to judge two men or women in a relationship. It’s about the freedom to love.
The people who left your congregation obviously believe that gay marriage is against the Christian religion. Which parts of scripture do they cite, and how do you read those same passages?
Most people who oppose homosexuality use biblical references found in Leviticus, which state that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Now, that’s a misinterpretation of that text. They really need to read further into it. In the same book of Leviticus, it states that if an unmarried woman is not a virgin, she can be put to death. We don’t put women to death for that reason nowadays.
The one law I quote frequently and try to conduct my ministry by is the one that Jesus gave: Love God first and then love your neighbor as yourself. And yet, we have laws in Minnesota in 2012 that say oral sex is a sin. You can go to jail for it. Come on people, wake up! Let’s get on with it!
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]
![The Gay-Marriage Plot: Inside This Year’s Other High-Stakes Campaign
As natural as Obama’s statement may have sounded, his words were as carefully chosen as the interview. The testimonial to the gay men and women in his life; the discussion of values and the Golden Rule; the remarkable fact that America’s first black president, discussing an issue many see as a modern civil-rights struggle (with a black interviewer, no less), made no reference to civil rights — these were all talking points straight out of the new playbook of the gay-rights movement.
Read more. [Image: Getty]
Framing the gay marriage debate from both a legalistic and educational standpoint proved successful for Democrats in 2012, but what exactly prevents it from being framed as civil rights issue?](http://24.media.tumblr.com/1fa180c786381cda3097bfe58b617965/tumblr_mevh6aYORP1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![More Americans Support Gay Marriage Than Oppose It
[Image: Pew Research Center]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m856qg9Cu81qcokc4o1_1280.png)
![The Touching Story Behind Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos’ $2.5 Million Gift in Support of Gay Marriage
This morning, Washington United for Marriage announced a gift of “historic” proportions: $2.5 million from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, of Amazon fame and fortune, to go toward efforts to pass Referendum 74, which would legalize same-sex marriage in Washington, where the online retailer is based. With that one gift, the Bezoses have joined the ranks of the top financial backers of gay marriage in the country.
Why the sudden large check? The New York Times reports that the gift came as the result of a request from one of Amazon’s earliest employees, Jennifer Cast, a volunteer for Washington United for Marriage and a mother of four children she is raising with her longtime partner.
Read more. [Image: AP]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7twftF7ha1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![In Sleepy Minnesota Suburbs, Church Ladies Launch Gay Marriage Crusade
The southwest Minneapolis suburbs of Minnetonka and Eden Prairie bring to mind Garrison Keillor’s tales from Lake Wobegon: They’re lined with well-maintained homes and tree-lined roundabouts, and home to residents of largely German and Scandinavian ancestry. But the ladies of these towns have quietly begun a revolt — one fought with rainbow flags and a Minnesota nice attitude.
The women, mostly in their 40s and 50s, come from different political parties, religious views, and backgrounds, but they’ve united to fight what many of them call an embarrassment to Minnesota: a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage that will appear on the ballot this November.
Read more. [Image: Benson Kua/Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m70c76BfgD1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![A Judicial Victory That Could Send Gay Marriage to the Supreme Court
On Tuesday, the 9th Circuit decided not to reconsider the decision that found California’s Proposition 8 gay-marriage ban unconstitutional — a victory for gay-marriage supporters that makes it likely the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the issue. And while the California decision was but one step in a long process for marriage-equality advocates, it was an important reminder: For all the attention given to the “evolution” of politicians and the public, same-sex marriage continues to make some of its most consequential gains through the judiciary.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55uskr7Ir1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Why One Black Minister Is Risking His Church to Support Gay Marriage
Twenty-two years ago, Reverend Oliver White founded Grace Community United Church of Christ in a low-income black neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a strong congregation with 320 members — until 2005, when White stood up at a synod of the United Church of Christ and voiced his support of gay marriage. Then he came home and told his congregation what he had done.
“I thought they were with me,” he says, “but much to my chagrin, I immediately started losing members.” Over the next few weeks, two thirds of his members left the congregation. […]
How did you become such a strong supporter of gay marriage?
You know, I’ve always felt this way. This is not something I’ve evolved into. I’ve always just felt that people are people. There are all kinds of different people — some are left handed, and others are right handed. Should we discriminate against people because they’re left handed?
That’s how I see it. Many of my friends happen to be gay, and some of my enemies, too. They all deserve the same rights I have in terms of being married, and the joys and benefits come along with that. I would not be inclined to be in relationship with another man, but it’s not for me to judge two men or women in a relationship. It’s about the freedom to love.
The people who left your congregation obviously believe that gay marriage is against the Christian religion. Which parts of scripture do they cite, and how do you read those same passages?
Most people who oppose homosexuality use biblical references found in Leviticus, which state that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Now, that’s a misinterpretation of that text. They really need to read further into it. In the same book of Leviticus, it states that if an unmarried woman is not a virgin, she can be put to death. We don’t put women to death for that reason nowadays.
The one law I quote frequently and try to conduct my ministry by is the one that Jesus gave: Love God first and then love your neighbor as yourself. And yet, we have laws in Minnesota in 2012 that say oral sex is a sin. You can go to jail for it. Come on people, wake up! Let’s get on with it!
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55nolVcr61qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Federal Court: DOMA Violates Married Same-Sex Couples’ Rights
A Federal Appeals court in Massachusetts ruled Thursday that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitution by denying federal benefits to same-sex couples and though it’s a narrow ruling, it’s still a victory for same-sex marriage advocates as the case makes its way ever-closer to the Supreme Court.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: Reuters]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4wdnehQHn1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
