Minister who repeatedly provoked her church by performing same-sex weddings to speak at Cathedral of Hope
The Rev. Jane Spahr
The Rev. Jane Spahr isn’t quite sure what she’ll talk about when she speaks at Cathedral of Hope on Sunday, Aug. 17. But it’s guaranteed she’ll get in a few good laughs. When Spahr talks about repeatedly provoking the Presbyterian Church by performing numerous same-sex marriages and becoming the first lesbian evangelist, she does it with a wonderful sense of humor.
Unlike other ministers who’ve faced church trials with anguish, Spahr wears her experiences as a badge of honor, doing her part in the fight for equality.
The Presbyterian minister, who came out as lesbian in her 30s, faced church trials three times for marrying same-sex couples. In 1992, she became the first out lesbian to be called to lead a Presbyterian congregation.
Because of her sexual orientation, church courts denied Spahr the position in Rochester, N.Y., so she went on to minister gays and lesbians.
“I was the first lesbian evangelist,” she laughs and says proudly.
In 2004, Spahr performed a holy union. “I called it a marriage,” she said, explaining that she meets with couples for a year before marrying them. That’s because she always wants to make sure the ceremony is genuine and personal. And if she calls it a marriage, damn it, that’s what it is.
After California legalized same-sex marriage in 2008, Spahr performed quite a few ceremonies before Proposition 8 shut down marriage equality in the state.
“I always reported it,” she said, because she believes in being open and honest with the church she loves.
For her most recent trial, she said, the church officials chose to charge her for performing marriages for 16 of the couples she had wed. The ordeal lasted from 2008 until 2010. She’s not sure why those couples were chosen, but she was delighted with the choices.
“The couples were able to testify,” she said. “It was important for the court to hear.”
In facing those charges, Spahr refused to compromise her principles. She said when she married a couple that had been together 45 years, she didn’t know what else to call it but a marriage.
Many of the couples she married were already raising children. Of course that was a marriage, she said.
In February 2012, the court ruled that Presbyterian ministers cannot perform same-sex marriages, even in states where such marriages are legal, because the denomination’s constitution does not recognize such unions as Christian marriages. At the time of the ruling against her, a federal court had just struck down Prop 8, sending that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This is not about me,” Spahr said, dismissing the charges as nothing personal. “It’s about a church that says no.”
Spahr said after she was convicted, her local presbytery refused to rebuke her. That was an indication things were changing as rapidly in the Presbyterian Church as they were changing throughout the country.
Currently, the Presbyterian Church USA is in the process of changing its definition and rules on marriage. In June, the denomination’s General Assembly passed two rules that must be approved by a majority of presbyteries over the next year.
The first gives ministers the right to perform same-sex weddings in states where it is legal, but with no requirement to do so.
The second changes the wording that says Christian marriage is between “a man and a woman” to a marriage is between “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”
Spahr was ordained in 1974, two years before she came out. She was married and had children. Since her divorce, she remains good friends with her former husband.
She even performed his second wedding and counts her ex-husband’s wife as one of her closest friends.
Although she is officially retired and delights in spending lots of time with her grandchildren, Spahr continues performing same-sex weddings in the growing number of states that allow them and doesn’t expect to be called up before a church court again — even though the denomination’s policy hasn’t officially changed.
Spahr will speak at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services at Cathedral of Hope on Sunday, and she’ll likely do it with a great sense of humor. Because that’s the only way she knows how to look at her life.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 15, 2014.