United Methodist minister and dean of divinity at Yale University Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree will be tried by a church council because he officiated his son's same-sex wedding in October 2012. Presiding over the wedding violated rules that bar Methodist clergy from blessing same-sex unions.
A complaint was filed against Ogletree with a regional church body, and he was notified last week charges had been filed. The minister said he could not refuse to officiate his son Thomas's wedding to William Haddad.
“I could not with any integrity as a Christian refuse my son’s request to preside at his wedding,” he said in a press release from Methodists in New Directions. “It is a shame that the church is choosing to prosecute me for this act of love, which is entirely in keeping with my ordination vows to ‘seek peace, justice, and freedom for all people’ and with Methodism’s historic commitment to inclusive ministry embodied in its slogan ‘open hearts, open minds, open doors.’
The trial will take place in Connecticut on March 10.
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