A Pennsylvania Methodist pastor's decision to officiate his gay son's wedding might cost him his credentials as a religious leader, the Associated Press reported.
51-year old Rev. Frank Schaefer chose to preside over his son's same-sex marriage "because I love him so much and didn't want to deny him that joy." But his decision went against pastoral vows he made when he first became a minister, and he's now facing a church trial for performing the 2007 ceremony in Massachusetts.
According to The United Methodist Church's stance on gay and lesbian members, LGBTs are welcomed and accepted into the faith, but homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching." Leaders who officiate gay marriages could receive punishment as severe as dismissal from the congregation.
But the pastor maintained that he was answering God's call to love all people, saying he had no reason to apologize.
"If I am charged to minister to all people, regardless of who they are and what they are, then it should be just so," he stated.
Schaefer's critics said he is not exempt from Methodist law, and that he intended to plant seeds of contempt among the members of the clergy, in addition to putting blinders on toward the church's policies.
Around 50 clergy have announced that they will officiate a same-sex marriage at a Methodist church in Philadelphia on Saturday in support of Schaefer's case.
"If we are operating under the position of open hearts, open minds and open doors, we can't close those doors to certain people," Rev. David Brown of Arch Street United Methodist Church told AP.
German-born Schaefer said he hadn't pondered homosexuality until his son Tim came out when he was 17. He informed his parents that he'd thought about killing himself because of the difficulties he grappled with during his search for sexual identity.
"Growing up as a 'PK,' a pastor's kid, he didn't think that he was the way he was supposed to be, that his sexual orientation was wrong and sinful according to the church," Schaefer said. "He got that message from the church and the large culture that there was something wrong with him."
After Tim came out, Schaefer said he realized his son hadn't chosen his sexuality.
"This is the way God made him," Schaefer concluded. "This is the way he was created, as a homosexual."
