Minister guilty
for role in gay weddings

A Presbyterian minister was found guilty of violating church law for officiating the weddings of two lesbian couples, the minister's defense team said Friday.

A regional judicial committee of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled 6-2 that while the Reverend Jane Spahr of San Rafael, Calif., ''acted with conscience and conviction,'' her actions were still at odds with the church's constitution, her defense team said in a statement.

The ruling, delivered late Thursday to lawyers for Spahr and the church, reversed a lower court's decision in March 2006 that found Spahr acted within her rights as an ordained minister when she married the couples in 2004 and 2005.

Spahr was the first minister of her faith to be tried for officiating the weddings of gay couples. She has since retired. (AP)