Ford remembered
at D.C. funeral for supporting gays

The nation remembered Gerald R. Ford on Tuesday for what he didn't have--pretensions, a scheming agenda, a great golf game--as much as for the small-town authenticity he brought to the presidency--as well as his support for gays. In an elaborate national funeral service in Washington, D.C., and in a simpler ceremony in Grand Rapids, Mich., the 38th president was celebrated for treating politics as a calling rather than blood sport. The service in Washington unfolded in the spirit of one of its musical selections, "Fanfare for the Common Man," as powerful people celebrated the modesty and humility of a leader propelled to the presidency by the Watergate crisis that drove predecessor Richard Nixon from office. In his homily, Episcopalian minister Robert G. Certain touched on the fractious debate in the church over homosexuality, adding that Ford did not think the issue should be splitting Episcopalians. He was Ford's pastor at St. Margaret's Church in Palm Desert, Calif. "He asked me if we would face schism after we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women," Certain said. "He said that he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the great commandments and the great commission to love God and to love thy neighbor." (Calvin Woodward and James Prichard, AP)