wfn.org | Hudson River Presbytery Affirms "Freedom"

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3-February-1999 
99054 
 
    Hudson River Presbytery Affirms "Freedom" 
    to Conduct Same-Sex Union Ceremonies 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - By a vote of 107-35, Hudson River Presbytery affirmed 
on Feb. 6 "the freedom of any session to allow its ministers to perform 
ceremonies of holy union between persons of the same gender." 
 
    The Rev. C. Fred Jenkins, associate stated clerk of the General 
Assembly, told the Presbyterian News Service: "Such a position is nothing 
new. What is new is a governing body taking formal action on such a 
position." 
 
    The Hudson River Presbytery stipulated that its action "reflects our 
understanding at this time that these ceremonies do not constitute marriage 
as defined by `The Book of Order.'" 
 
    Indeed, Jenkins pointed out in a letter to an unnamed person dated Dec. 
1, 1998: "The Directory for Worship, at W-4.9001, defines marriage as `a 
civil contract between a woman and a man.' Technically, therefore, a 
same-sex union ceremony could not be a marriage ceremony." 
 
    In 1991, National Capital Presbytery sought guidance as to whether 
same-sex ceremonies were in violation of W-4.9001. The 1991 General 
Assembly issued an "authoritative guidance" that "the session should not 
allow the use of the church facilities, and a minister of Word and 
Sacrament should not officiate at a ceremony determined to be the same as a 
marriage ceremony." 
 
    A proposed amendment to "The Book of Order" flatly prohibiting 
ministers from participating in same-sex union ceremonies was rejected by 
the presbyteries in 1995. 
 
    "I think that God's tears are a lot less every time we affirm monogamy 
over promiscuity," the Rev. Steve Geckeler, the pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church in White Plains (the host church for the meeting), told the 
Associated Press after the Hudson River vote. Geckeler is married with 
children, and has not performed any same-sex unions. 
 
    Hudson River Presbytery became embroiled in the issue three months ago, 
when Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in New Windsor, N.Y., filed a complaint 
with the presbytery against South Presbyterian Church in nearby Dobbs 
Ferry. South Church openly hosts same-sex union ceremonies. 
 
    The resolution adopted by the presbytery grew out of the investigation 
of the complaint against South Church. 
 
    Jenkins said "it is the position of the Office of Constitutional 
Services that all Presbyterians and governing bodies abide by `The Book of 
Order.'" Any adjudication of the matter in Hudson River Presbytery, he 
added, will have to await the filing of a complaint - either against the 
presbytery for taking the action, or against a session or minister for 
conducting a same-sex union ceremony. 
 
    Action against the presbytery would be heard first by the Synod of the 
Northeast's Permanent Judicial Commission. Action against a session or 
minister would be heard by the presbytery's commission. 
 
    Jenkins speculated that the Hudson River Presbytery's action will 
probably spark more overtures to the General Assembly proposing an explicit 
prohibition of same-sex union ceremonies in Presbyterian churches and by 
Presbyterian ministers. 

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