Court says Spahr didn't violate constitution because ceremonies weren't weddings By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, April 29, 2008 In her own words, to stoke the fire of her crusade for lesbians and homosexuals, Jane Spahr testified at three levels of church court that she had conducted "marriage" ceremonies for two lesbian couples. But the highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled that Spahr had done no such thing. Jane Spahr with John Fife at 1999 Woman of Faith Award cermony. In a decision posted this afternoon, the General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission said Spahr did not violate church law because a union of two people of the same gender is not a marriage – no matter what you call it. "By the definition in W-4.9001, a same-sex ceremony can never be a marriage," the court said. "The SPJC [synod court] found Spahr guilty of doing that which by definition cannot be done. One cannot characterize same-sex ceremonies as marriages for the purpose of disciplining a minister of the Word and Sacrament and at the same time declare that such ceremonies are not marriages for legal or ecclesiastical purposes." The Synod of the Pacific's judicial commission had ruled that Spahr unconstitutionally rejected W-4.9001, a section in the Book of Order that defines marriage as a "… gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith." The GAPJC noted that denomination does allow ministers to conduct services to bless same-gender couples. What they call them is irrelevant, however, but not unconstitutional. Thus the GAPJC overruled the synod court's proposed punishment of Spahr for her alleged violation of the constitution. She was to have received a mild rebuke. The issue will be dormant only briefly. Commissioners to the 218th General Assembly, who will meet in San Jose on June 21-28, will consider overtures calling for a constitutional amendment that would sanction the marriage of same-sex couples. In 2006, the 217th General Assembly commissioners rejected by wide margins overtures asking them to affirm traditional marriage. It was not the first church court trial for Spahr. The 65-year-old self-styled lesbian evangelist was ordained in 1974 by the United Presbyterian Church (USA), which merged in 1983 with the Presbyterian Church U.S. to become the PCUSA. She worked for years with presbytery approval at a predominantly homosexual church in San Francisco. In 1991, Downtown Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., asked her to become its co-pastor. The Presbytery of Genesee Valley approved the call. But opponents of having a lesbian on staff at the church took the case to court, and Spahr was prohibited from accepting the call. She retired in August 2007 from That All May Freely Serve, an activist group whose budget is underwritten largely by the Rochester church. In 1999, Spahr received a Woman of Faith Award from the Women's Program Area of the PCUSA. Protests against her selection were rejected by the General Assembly Council.

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