Pastor up against hate group

A Pennyslvania Methodist minister convicted by a jury of his ecclesiastical peers of breaking church law for presiding over his son's wedding to a man is refusing to repent. "I did not want to make this a protest about the doctrine of the church. I wasn't trying to be an advocate," The Rev. Frank Schaefer, a father of four, testified yesterday in a hearing to determine his punishment. "I just wanted this to be a beautiful family affair, and it was that." Rev. Schaefer took a visible and increasingly clear stand over the course of yesterday's proceedings, wearing a rainbow-colored stole on the witness stand. He declined the church prosecution's offer to "repent of and renounce his disobedience to the Methodist Book of Discipline," the Associated Press reported, and refused to promise that he wouldn't officiate at more same-sex unions. Later in the day, his tone became more defiant. The church "needs to stop judging people based on their sexual orientation. We have to stop the hate speech. We have to stop treating them as second-class Christians," he said. "I will never be silent again." OK so he broke church law. But it was the right thing to do. Gays are people too, and if they want to get married, we should let them even though the Bible says otherwise. Let's just hope another pastor has the courage to stand up for Schaefer and what he believes in.