Presbyterian Church Appeal's Pastor's Gay Marriage Acquittal

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/03/032306presb.htm

An appeal has been filed challenging the acquittal of a Presbyterian minister who performed same-sex marriages.

A regional judicial commission of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled earlier this month that the Rev. Jane Spahr of San Rafael acted within her rights as an ordained minister when she married two lesbian couples in 2004 and 2005. (story)
She had been charged with official misconduct following a complaint brought by a minister from Bellevue, Wash. for marrying the couples from Rochester, N.Y., and Guerneville, Calif.

Because the section of the faith's constitution that reserves marriage for a man and a woman "is a definition, not a directive," Spahr was "acting within her right of conscience in performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples," the tribunal said in a written ruling.