Albany church panel: Is gay marriage different?

Albany church panel: Is gay marriage different? --NY


Capital-area council sponsors a discussion about what makes a marriage a marriage

By MARC PARRY, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Wednesday, January 9, 2008
ALBANY -- The Rev. Ellen Tatreau belongs to a denomination that considers homosexuality "un-Christian."
But as pastor of Albany's Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tatreau welcomes homosexuals.
The pastor took her support a step further six months ago when, for the first time, she performed a marriagelike "service of commitment" for a lesbian couple. Eight people attended.
"The first time was really a profound experience," Tatreau said. "Because I knew that the families of this couple were really struggling with this and did not see it as anything that should be sanctioned by the church."
The pastor shared the story Tuesday following a forum billed around this theme: "The Spirituality of Marriage: Is Gay Marriage Different?"
The Capital Area Council of Churches sponsored the discussion in a brick-walled hall at First Lutheran Church. A small crowd gathered over lunch to hear two pastors address a subject that has polarized government bodies around the United States and faith communities around the world.
The Roman Catholic Church has weighed in on the debate over legal recognition for gay unions with a declaration that "no ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman."
Homosexuality rattled the U.S. Episcopal Church following the 2003 consecration of V. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop. A 2005 "equal marriage rights for all" resolution made the United Church of Christ the first mainline Christian denomination to support gay unions.
Stepping into this theological war zone, moderator Kitt Jackson stressed on Tuesday that the Council of Churches, a fellowship of over 85 faith communities, does not take a position on gay marriage. Whether such a thing should exist was not the topic of the talk, she said.
"It's meant to be a theological discussion of what makes a marriage a marriage," she said of the talk. "We did not want it to be a confrontational argument."
Tatreau began with a historical overview of marriage from the ancient Israelites to the United States.
The Israelites' society was patriarchal, their marriages geared toward procreation, perpetuating the man's name and maintaining and expanding his property, Tatreau said. She reminded the audience of Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines.
"Throughout most of Western history, marriage was not a mere personal matter concerning only a husband and wife, but was, rather, the business of their two families that brought them together," Tatreau said.
Marriage was an economic and political arrangement "with little regard for anything resembling affection of romantic love," she said.
Tatreau, whose church is on State Street, can perform same-sex commitment ceremonies because her American Baptist denomination -- more liberal than the larger Southern Baptist Convention -- has local autonomy. She has presided over two more since the first one six months ago.
The forum's other panelist, the Rev. Karha Us, has performed about 125 same-sex "holy union" ceremonies. The former co-pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of the Hudson Valley, Us and her partner of nearly 20 years drove to Vermont to join in a civil union.
They moved to Herkimer and are turning a farm into a retreat center for clergy.
"We're waiting for the day when we will be able to have a marriage," she said.
Marc Parry can be reached at 454-5057 or by e-mail at mparry@timesunion.com.