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Unitarian Church Welcomes First Same-Sex Wedding

Since the Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage across the nation, there’s been both acceptance and resistance. But at the Unitarian Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky, there is strong support for the new law, as the congregation prepares to celebrate the first same-sex wedding at the church.

“We are gay and straight together and we are singing for our lives…"

On this Sunday morning, the congregation at the Unitarian church in Bowling Green is singing, “We are gay and straight together...”  

The song has verses about being justice seeking-people  and a land of many colors.

Forrest Halford is playing piano. He will marry his partner, Greg Willis, in this church in August. 

Halford found his way to this welcoming community after years in other churches.

"I grew up in a Christian church. I grew up in a musical tradition. My mother was a musician at a church. I sang in the choirs. Ultimately, I played in churches and was a minister of music, saved at 16 with a sinner’s prayer, baptized in the Holy Spirit at 19, speaking in tongues, going to charismatic Pentecostal churches. And then backslid, whatever that means…"

Backsliding was kind of a big thing.

"I was outed. I was outed. Somebody called up and told the preacher I was gay, I was a quote unquote “practicing homosexual,” therefore I could not be in a leadership position." 

Willis also plays piano in the church. He says before the Supreme Court ruling, being a same-sex, unmarried couple meant they had to get powers of attorney, so they could care for each other in case of emergency. Willis says that’s all changed with the new law. 

"It's kind of like getting our place at the table of society. It's not a matter of having people like us. It's getting the full protections, the full benefit of being a citizen."

The Unitarian congregation sings about “...standing on the side of love.”

Bowling Green Unitarian minister Peter Connolly says “standing on the side of love” means supporting all relationships, and the new law does that.  

"It's an opportunity for people to have equal rights, independent of what their sexual orientation is. An opportunity for people to participate more fully in the social and cultural rites of passage."

Connolly says the Unitarians are not living in their own little bubble of acceptance.

"During the course of the discussion after the sermon, it was mentioned that there are many churches in town who are railing against this, and talking about it as an abomination, and a desecration and an insult to religious traditions. And so, in that way, I expect things will be bubbling up in pockets. Kentucky, of course, is in what they call the Bible belt, so you can expect there will be more resistance here."

Willis thinks that time is going to wear away that resistance and bring more peaceful relationships in the community.

"Religion has always had a tremendous importance on the national dialogue. That's changing. It's becoming more secular. Not only are more people not attending church or not part of a religion, they're not getting their cues from religion. They're getting their cues from what seems right or logical. And the church, of course, is very upset about that."

Halford says the best way to overcome resistance to same-sex unions is just to be who you are.

"Their neighbors are going to understand that they're just as ordinary and boring as everybody else. That's exactly right."

As they prepare for their August 15 wedding, Halford and Willis are part of a community where being ordinary, in your own unique way, is accepted as the way to bring a little more peace on earth.

 For WKU Public Radio, I’m Rhonda Miller.

"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me..."