• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”
  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’
  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

Dallas Episcopal Diocese Banishes Gay Couples To Fort Worth To Get Married

John Wright December 11, 2015 Leave a Comment

Sumner

Back in July, we broke this story about how the Dallas Episcopal Diocese planned to prohibit same-sex marriages in its congregations, despite the nation’s church’s vote to allow clergy to perform them.

Since then, the new bishop of the Dallas diocese, George R. Sumner (above), has followed through with the ban, telling same-sex couples they must travel to Fort Worth for marriage ceremonies. But now, LGBT church members and their supporters are fighting back against what they’re calling the “I-30 plan” (Interstate 30 connects Dallas and Fort Worth).

According to Dallas Episcopalians for Unity, one-third of attendees wore rainbow armbands to Sumner’s enthronement in November to show their support for LGBT members, and the group has since met with the new bishop to discuss the policy. But so far, he’s not budging.

“The diocesan policy puts a burden on our friends in Fort Worth as well as Episcopalians here who are relegated to the ‘I-30 plan,’ which will cost time, money and frustration,” Dallas Episcopalians for Unity wrote in a Dec. 5 letter to Sumner. “These injustices are not imposed on any other couples in the Diocese. We believe they are only likely to cement the feelings of division — not unity, our purpose — within the Diocese. We see the point blank refusal to make any marriage accommodation, together with the failure once again to state a clear message of welcome to LGBT Christians in the same statement, as a rejection by the Diocese of Dallas and its conservative majority of any charitable purpose.”

Episcopalians for Unity also expressed concern about how same-sex couples will be treated once they return from Fort Worth, and whether their marriages will be recognized in Dallas.

“Sensitive areas where LGBT people in the Church already face discrimination and where being in a same-sex marriage could cause further problems are picture directories, service in key parish roles, and holy orders,” the group wrote. “Requiring faithful Episcopalians to go somewhere else is not making available the marriage right and it sends a loud, clear message to the larger Church — the Diocese of Dallas stands apart and has brazen disregard for many of its own flock.”

In July, the national church voted to allow same-sex marriages, but agreed to a compromise under which individual clergy members may refuse to perform them without penalty, and bishops can prohibit them in their dioceses. Nationally, it’s unclear how many dioceses are permitting same-sex marriages.

The Dallas Observer notes that Bishop Sumner once wrote an article endorsing “ex-gay” therapy. But the diocese isn’t commenting on the “I-30 plan” or Sumner’s views.

“Honestly I don’t even know if we will hear from him again,” Episcopalians for Unity member Daniel Robinson Donalson told the Observer. “I hope that we do. He asked us to be willing to work with him and have dialogue with him, and we expressed that we would be more than willing to do that. Since the breakfast, we have not heard anything from him. … At this point, I feel that what the group is planning to do is incorporate ourselves so that we can take on a more formal structure, so that we can really step up our game in opposition of this policy.”

Read the group’s full letter to Sumner below.

 

Topics: Religion, Travel More Posts About: Dallas, Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, gay marriage, Gay Rights, George Sumner, Texas

Related Posts
  • Mormons Gay Marriage Shift is NOT Support For Marriage Equality; Slimy Attempt to Undermine Civil Rights, Legalize Discrimination By Churches
  • Texas Republicans’ Platform Calls Your LGBTQ Life an “Abnormal Lifestyle Choice”; Declares Biden Election Illegitimate, Despite Evidence;
  • Former Roommate Indicted For Murder Of Florida LGBTQ Activist Jorge Diaz-Johnston, One of the Public Faces In State Fight For Marriage Equality
  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jeff Richmond and Tina Fey want the ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie to have a “fresher palette”. The pair are adapting their musical for the big screen and composer Jeff revealed his …Read More »
  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents. The 61-year-old actress had been friends with Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell – who are the parents of pop star Billie, …Read More »
  • Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Published by AFP The US city of Memphis, Tennessee, on January 27, 2023, released footage of the fatal police beating of a 29-year-old Black man, Tyre Nichols Washington (AFP) – The shocking death of Tyre Nichols …Read More »
  • Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Published by DPA Pope Francis speaks during the general audience at the Pope Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Michael Kappeler/dpa Pope Francis has clarified his earlier comments on homosexuality following confusion in recent days, saying: …Read More »
Previous Post: « These are the 15 Best Albums of 2015
Next Post: Friday Morning News Feed: Justin Bieber, Whales, Chris Christie, Window Seats, Friday Flesh »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Secrets about Catholic priest’s 1966 murder unearthed by reporters in Buffalo

    Secrets about Catholic priest’s 1966 murder unearthed by reporters in Buffalo

  • Booker says he’ll keep trying to pass weed legislation even with House Republicans in charge

    Booker says he’ll keep trying to pass weed legislation even with House Republicans in charge

  • Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition blacklisting sparks outcry

    Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition blacklisting sparks outcry

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • ‘Gone Their Separate Ways’: Ryan Reynolds & Jake Gyllenhaal’s Pals Left Scratching Their Heads Over Bizarre Bromance Fallout 

    ‘Gone Their Separate Ways’: Ryan Reynolds & Jake Gyllenhaal’s Pals Left Scratching Their Heads Over Bizarre Bromance Fallout 

  • Steamy! Miranda Lambert Shows Off Shirtless Husband Brendan McLoughlin To Celebrate Their Anniversary

    Steamy! Miranda Lambert Shows Off Shirtless Husband Brendan McLoughlin To Celebrate Their Anniversary

  • ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Leon Brown Debuts Gender-Affirming Top Surgery Seven Months After Announcing New Pronouns

    ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Leon Brown Debuts Gender-Affirming Top Surgery Seven Months After Announcing New Pronouns

RSS Partner Links

  • Kim Kardashian & Kris Jenner Rock Out to Janet Jackson During a Saturday Date Night
  • Are You 50+ And Bored?
  • Billie Jean King celebrates “Original 9″ and birth of women’s pro tennis as we know it today
  • Chris Evans & Alba Baptista ‘have gotten serious,’ he’s very ‘committed’ to her
  • The Tyre Nichols Killing Shocks The Nation + Paul Pelosi's Attacker Speaks + Sam Smith On LOTS OF FEAR Surrounding UNHOLY + The Gay History Of THE WAY WE WERE + MORE! — 12-PACK
  • Saturday Round-Up: Brad Goreski; Noah Schnapp; Laith Ashley; Jennifer Coolidge & Tig Notaro and more!
  • Ex-Biden Aide Collateral Damage In GOP Hunter Biden Frenzy

Most Recent

  • Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”

    Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”

  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

  • Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

  • Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

  • Rick Astley: I wasn’t cut out to be a pop star

    Rick Astley: I wasn’t cut out to be a pop star

  • Universal Pictures Loses Over $10 Million By Scrapping Madonna’s Biopic: Source

    Universal Pictures Loses Over $10 Million By Scrapping Madonna’s Biopic: Source

  • Spice Girls to reunite for King Charles’ coronation

    Spice Girls to reunite for King Charles’ coronation

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×