Pastor takes stand
for gay nuptials
By Lindsay Nash,
citizen-times.com from the Web, February 20, 2006
ASHEVILLE, NC -- An Asheville
pastor took a stand for gay marriage Sunday by announcing he would no longer
perform civil marriages for the state.
The Rev. Joe Hoffman, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ in
Asheville, made the announcement in his Sunday morning sermon in an effort to
treat his gay and lesbian parishioners the same as heterosexuals — a move that
he believes is a first in this area.
“When I sign that piece of paper for marriage, as an agent of the state, I give
(heterosexual couples) about 1,100 rights and privileges that gay and lesbian
couples do not get,” Hoffman said. “I believe in equal rights for all
people. As a minister, I was participating in a system that was unjust.”
Last year, the million-strong national church became the first major U.S.
Christian denomination to come out in support of gay marriage. The UCC has
supported gay rights since the 1970s, when the church ordained its first gay
minister.
Hoffman said he made the decision on a personal level and says he is not
speaking for his church, made up of more than 200 members.
“I hope it will prompt people to think,” Hoffman said. “I hope they will
question what this is all about. I think for heterosexuals, it will be a
small inconvenience to have a religious ceremony and then get it legalized.
But I hope it calls attention to the great injustice that people who are gay and
lesbian live with every day.”
Kathryn Cart ledge, a member of the First Congregational church who says she was
denied a chaplain job with the state for being a lesbian, believes it should be
her right to marry her partner of 23 years. Hoffman’s decision gives her a
glimmer of hope.
“He’s willing to stand up and do what he can do,” she said. “I think
that’s where I find hope.”
The bold statement should bring the issue of gay rights — already present and
growing in Asheville — into the spotlight, said Melissa Bur chard, an associate
professor of philosophy at UNC Asheville.
“I think that it is very brave,” said Bur chard, who specializes in social and
political philosophies.
“It will raise visibility,” she said. “It won’t necessarily fix things,
but it will make where people can’t avoid it. Most people would like to
sweep it under the rug and make it go away. But this kind of civil
disobedience forces people to see that there is an issue to be taken seriously
here.”
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