N.C. minister
resigns in support of same-sex marriage

The Reverend Howard Hanger of Asheville, N.C., announced Sunday that he will be turning in his ordination to the United Methodist Church. The Asheville Citizen Times reports that he told the congregation of Jubilee! Community, a nondenominational church that draws about 500 people for Sunday services, that his decision was due to his disagreement with the denomination over its refusal to recognize same-sex unions. Hanger joins pastors Joe Hoffman and Mark Ward in protesting institutional stances on same-sex marriages. Hoffman, pastor of the 200-member First Congregational United Church of Christ, and Ward, who leads the 540-member Unitarian Universalist Church (both of Asheville), have announced in recent weeks that they would no longer perform civil marriage ceremonies for North Carolina until the state recognizes same-sex marriages. Hanger said he wanted his congregation and the many couples whose weddings he is slated to perform to know that his decision will not affect his ability to officiate at weddings. (Sirius OutQ News)