Posted by:
summer
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)
Date: December 24, 2013 01:15AM
Quick summary: As of right now, the following denominations and ministries are known to have sent clergy to courthouses and county clerk's offices to perform same sex marriages in Utah: the American Baptist Church, the Congregational United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church, and the Universal Heart Ministry.
The following denominations are on the record as expressing support for gay marriage in Utah: The Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church.
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I am trying to determine which church denominations are participating in the courthouse marriages in Utah. According to the Washington Post, "more than a dozen clergy from different denominations set up tables in the lobby and performed on-the-spot weddings." Kody Lee Partridge and Laurie Wood, who were plaintiffs in the lawsuit Shelby decided on Friday, were married at the courthouse by an American Baptist minister who had heard about the ruling and rushed down hoping to officiate at someone’s wedding.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/utahs-battle-over-gay-marriage-is-a-sign-of-a-larger-shift/2013/12/23/82d65988-6c00-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.htmlRuth and Kim Hackford-Peer were married at the SLC courthouse by the Reverend Curtis Price of the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City.
http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2013/12/utah-same-sex-marriage/#10http://www.firstbaptist-slc.org/find-out-more/staff/Pastor Gage Church of the Congregational United Church of Christ of Ogden showed up at the Ogden clerk and auditor's office on Saturday, prepared to perform same sex marriages, but was turned away when the office cancelled a special Saturday opening. An anecdotal report states that he and his same sex partner were themselves married on Monday, after which he himself performed marriages for the rest of the day.
http://www.thehour.com/in-photos-gay-marriage-in-utah/collection_5e0ce0f0-6b55-11e3-9aea-001a4bcf6878.htmlhttp://www.ogdenucc.org/pastor/Board member Bezoar reports below that he and his husband were married by the Reverend Monica Hall of the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Ogden.
http://www.pbyutah.org/Churches.htmlThe Reverend Christopher Scuderi of the Universal Heart Ministry married Jax and Heather Collins at the SLC courthouse.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57299146-78/marriage-state-sex-stay.html.csphttp://universalheartministry.com/?page_id=2According to board member Releve, the Reverend Connie A. Anast, a nondenominational minister, has also performed same sex marriages this week.
http://therevconnie.com/In a related statement, Scott Hayashi, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, welcomed last week's ruling by US District Judge Robert J. Shelby.
"I rejoice that [Shelby] has struck down Utah's Amendment 3," Hayashi said, referring to the state's 2004 constitutional amendment that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
"All people should have the right to due process and equal protection enshrined in the 14th Amendment," Hayashi continued. "Gay and lesbian people are human beings with hopes, dreams and the need for love. I celebrate that now they will have access to the same fulfillment enjoyed by heterosexual people. They are people made in the image of God."
The United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist Church played active roles in making the case against the state's gay marriage ban.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/religion/utah-episcopal-church-welcomes-gay-marriage-legalization/article/364536#ixzz2oMqn7zsFOf course the mayor was performing marriages as well! Here is a nice photo of Natalie Dicou and Nicole Christensen being married by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker:
http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/lt/lt_cache/thumbnail/908/img/photos/2013/12/21/ca/48/31ec91bf36cc468095f9bb763790a354-9ff59f32384543b2863c541b851a219c-5.jpgEdited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 01:28PM by summer.