Gay Mason on Trial in Kentucky

A Kentucky Mason faces a trial next month for being gay.

The challenge follows a statewide vote last October in which the Kentucky Masons turned down an attempt to change their constitution to ban openly gay members. Some members of a Frankfort lodge made the move after John Wright, a member of the Right Angle Lodge in Winchester, came out to his fellow members.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, "Now, Wright is facing a Masonic trial set for April 8, according to a letter from an official in the fraternity's administrative body, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. Within weeks of the statewide vote, five Masons from Central Kentucky filed an internal petition, saying that Wright violated the group's constitution by forsaking his belief in God in declaring his homosexuality and by going public with information about the Masons."

The complaint also alleges that Wright "violated the sanctity of his marriage" and "deserted" his wife. He was married to a woman when he became a Mason in 2007. He filed for divorce in 2010 when he realized he was gay.

Documents provided by Wright to the Herald-Leader show that John C. Bourne, one of the Masons making the complaint against him, is a detective with the Jessamine County Sheriff's Department. He and the other four men declined to talk about their position.

If found guilty at the Masonic trial, Wright could be punished with expulsion from the worldwide fraternity.