Well, it would be nice if it did (ie here in the UK we have Civil Partnership, which carries the same legal rights and responsibilities as marriage), however as someone already said a lot of people ‘get round’ this one by saying the only marriage recognised by God is between a man and a woman.

When I was a first year university student, I did some work for the Student Ministry Team at a nice Anglican church. I was in charge of refreshments at student events. When the curate found out I was a lesbian, she said I could keep my position on the team if I decided to be celibate. When I said I couldn’t she said I was sinning because I was having sex outside of marriage. When I said ‘what if we get married?’ she said that we would still have to be celibate because even though the Church of England has to recognise Civil Partnerships, it still counts as evil sinful gay sex so I still couldn’t be on the team. Basically the message was ‘you can be a lesbian and have a lesbian wedding as long as you don’t have any sex’ (and she included kissing and holding hands in this!). So, long story short, I left the team. Then she told me how “disappointed” the leadership was that I hadn’t been able to prioritise the ministry I was doing (making cups of tea for students)

Anyway, I think that if LGBT people can get married, it should be accepted by the church as much as heterosexual marriage is. But I still haven’t married my girlfriend. I don’t really know what I think about sex before marriage. I used to think it was definitely wrong, and sometimes I still wonder if we should have waited. But then again, when we got together there was no Civil Partnership yet…

Oh, and offering Sexy ML’s commentary on Galatians is just too, too funny! (I *had* to get the word “sexy” in here somehow!)

Maybe you can tell by this post that I’m one of those “Zen Lutherans” Garrison Keillor talks about – the kind who stay awake all night worrying about nothing. (or should that be Nothig?!)

Ella–>I hope in the coming posts we’ll deal directly with some of the things you shared in your comments because it would seem some of that serves as a solid underpinning to this entire area of our lives…as all areas.

Wendy –> That’s such a weary argument and so circular it makes me woozy. “Gays can’t have sex because sex outside of marriage is sin and gays can’t marry.” And then when it’s legalized in parts of the world the argument ups the ante to, “Gays can’t have sex because God (or more accurately, the person making the statement) doesn’t recognize their marriage as legal.” Yes, I’m sure God is all concerned about legal recognition as the defining feature of marriage. Or…oh…I don’t know….maybe not!

DragonLady–>As you can see by my post for today, we’re on the same page in that regard. I don’t think being gay or lesbian gives us loopholes but at the same time I think it requires even more of us in terms of thoughtful reflection around all our decisions. Actually, that should probably be more the case with straight folks too.

Hoops–>Funny Honey.

Christian –> That was a great title Christian! John over at Suddenly Christian is a good one for making some great titles as well to bring in the hits. No doubt the spambots will be kicking things up but thank goodness for Askimet! Now, read the article you goofball!

But I’ve done this thing before. One post of mine that get the highest number of hits was called “Why Won’t Christians Sleep in the Nude”. Amazing. I’ve used the same technique with lesser success but never had the cojones to come up with a title as provocative as yours. Get ready for some nasty spambots.