The Washington National Cathedral, a hub for the Episcopal Church in Washington D.C., announced this week that it will immediately begin performing same-sex marriage ceremonies.
The neo-Gothic landmark has been cultivating the idea to allow same-sex marriages for quite some time, and when same-sex marriage advocate the Very Rev. Gary Hall took over as the cathedral’s dean in October, it paved the way for the decision to be put into place.
“We have a lot of gay and lesbian Christians. What the National Cathedral is saying by doing this is we want to give faithful lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender people the same tools for living their lives faithfully that straight people have always had, and marriage is one of those tools. This comes out of even more of a theological understanding, for me, than it does out of a political agenda.”
The Episcopal Church has made a true effort to end discrimination in the house of worship, a place that shows up daily in headlines scrutinizing against the LGBT community thanks to ultra-Conservative religious groups. Last July, a new liturgy was introduced to bless same-sex marriages, the largest U.S. denomination to do so. It also consecrated the first openly gay bishop of the Anglican Communion, to which the Episcopal Church belongs, in 2003.
“In my 35 years of ordained ministry, some of the most personally inspiring work I have witnessed has been among gay and lesbian communities where I have served,” Hall noted. “I consider it a great honor to lead this Cathedral as it takes another historic step toward greater equality—and I am pleased that this step follows the results made clear in this past November’s election, when three states voted to allow same-sex marriage,” he added.
The cathedral’s home may be in Washington D.C., which has recognized same-sex marriages since 2009, but it has historically been considered the nation’s unofficial capital of worship—where presidents were eulogized, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. performed his last Sunday sermon and where the nation mourned the victims of 9/11. Needless to say, this stance on equality is one that is felt nationwide.
Photo: wikipedia.org
Brittny Drye is the senior editor at Equally Wed, the nation’s premier online magazine for gay and lesbian weddings and honeymoons. Follow her on Twitter @BrittnyDrye.
