By Jeff Brumley
Same-sex weddings are the stuff headlines are made of these days — especially when Baptist ministers are embracing the ceremonies ruled legal in every state by the Supreme Court last Friday.
The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., recently featured Jason Crosby, the pastor of Crescent Hill Baptist Church there, and his outspoken support for the high court’s decision and his intention to officiate weddings for gays and lesbians.
Crosby said he’s excited about the legality of gay marriage and how it will transform his church and ministry.
“I believe we are on the right side of history — and the Southern Baptist Convention will get there too; it might just take 100 years because although the law has changed, hatred persists,” he told the newspaper.
And while conservative evangelical opponents of the ruling, led in large part by SBC churches, pastors and politicians, are getting the lion’s share of media attention, moderate and progressive Christians are increasingly stepping up with their support.
And some of them were already performing same-sex ceremonies before the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the practice.
In recent telephone and email interviews with Baptist News Global, several ministers shared how faith and relationships led them to officiate same-sex marriages — or to be open to doing so.
Leading the way — Laura Barclay
It didn’t take Laura Barclay very long. She officiated the wedding of two men at City Hall in Louisville within hours of the June 26 Supreme Court ruling.
“This was the first gay wedding I have officiated,” she said. “To my knowledge, it was the first legal same-sex wedding in the state of Kentucky.”
The Supreme Court had handed God and love a victory, said Barclay, communication, networking and interim missions associate for the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship.
“I certainly think of them as together before the eyes of God and now it’s before the eyes of the state,” Barclay told WDRB in Louisville.
In her BNG interview, Barclay said she was already friends with the two men and had performed their religious ceremony one week before. It was a fulfilling experience for her to be able to officiate the legal ceremony, as well, she added.
“It felt wonderful to be there for my friends who have wanted to get married for years and have not had the right to do so,” she said. “It was a little odd to do the … ceremony before so many cameras, but it was a joyous occasion.”
Barclay said she has received positive feedback from her experience, especially from Joe Phelps, her pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville.
Her participation also opened many people’s eyes to the existence of progressive and moderate Baptists.
Some members of the LGBTQ community who attended the wedding “wanted to know where I went to church and wanted to find a place to worship God where they wouldn’t be afraid of being condemned or bullied,” Barclay said.
‘Upping the emotional reality’ — Scott Stearman
Condemnation isn’t reserved for those engaging in same-sex marriages but also for some ministers who officiate at them, said Stearman, pastor of Metro Baptist Church in New York City.
Stearman hasn’t officiated a gay wedding since Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, but he performed one in New York and another in Maine in 2014.
The couples were from Kirkwood Baptist Church, the church in suburban St. Louis where he was then pastor. Gay marriage wasn’t legal in the Show Me state at the time and he knew some would disapprove of his involvement.
“It’s painful to know you are going to lose friends or disappoint in an action like that,” he said. “That certainly ups the emotional reality.”
His congregation was onboard with his actions but had previously lost members during discussions about same-sex marriage, Stearman said.
And then there were those from his hometown church in Oklahoma who he knew would disagree.
“They completely don’t get it and think I am way off the rails,” he said. Despite being at peace with his decisions, “I just wanted to recognize the pain of it.”
Given the high court decision legalizaing same-sex marriage, Stearman said he’s ready to begin performing the ceremonies at Metro Baptist, which years ago joined the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.
“They have been relatively progressive since before that was very cool,” he said.
However, a big lesson contained in the Supreme Court ruling is that there need be no further distinction between gay and straight marriage, Stearman said.
“It’s not really gay marriage, it’s just marriage, and it’s not a gay wedding, it’s just a wedding,” he said. “For me, it’s an expression of love and commitment and you’re not thinking about gender ….”
‘It came out of nowhere’ — Ellin Jimmerson
But not every minister, even those in full support of same-sex marriage, had any idea they would ever be involved.
That describes Ellin Jimmerson.
“With gay marriage, it came out of nowhere to me,” she said.
Jimmerson is the unpaid community minister at Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala. She performed the first Alabama same-sex marriage ceremony in February.
Consequently, her church was booted from its local Baptist association. And it had all happened on a surprise request by a gay couple to marry them.
But while surprising, Jimmerson said, leading the service was in keeping with her calling to hear the cries of the oppressed.
Up to then, that meant working in the struggle over immigration. Those denied the right to marry certainly fit in that category, she said.
And it also fit with her Baptist heritage, she said. In her family that meant fighting segregation.
“My mother said Jesus is about freedom and so that’s the Baptist heritage I grew up on,” Jimmerson said.
It’s the same heritage that informs her support for same-sex marriage. And she knows exactly what she’ll say when asked to perform another one.
“Of course I would,” she said.