Magazine article The Christian Century
Few Pastors Asked to Perform Marriages for Same-Sex Couples
Article excerpt
A survey shows that since gay marriage was made legal in 2015, Protestant pastors have rarely been asked to officiate at such ceremonies.
More than 100,000 same-sex weddings have occurred since the Supreme Court ruling. But only 11 percent of senior church pastors, both mainline and evangelical, report having been asked to perform such a rite, according to a poll by Life Way Research.
Mainline Protestant clergy were three times as likely as evangelical pastors to have been asked. Presbyterian or Reformed clergy are most likely--26 percent--to have received a request to marry a same-sex couple, while Baptist pastors, at 1 percent, are the least likely.
Pastors 55 and older were twice as likely as their younger counterparts to be asked to perform a same-sex ceremony.
"Most couples, if they want a church wedding, will ask a pastor they know or who they think will support them," said Scott McConnell, executive director of Life Way Research. "For same-sex couples, this appears to be an older Presbyterian pastor. …