Moral Dilemma: When Weddings Are a Career Risk

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- On a Sunday morning last month, the Rev. Eileen Lindsay stood smiling at the front of her California church, sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows. She was about to sign three couples' marriage licenses, and asked her congregation to join in blessing their unions.

It was a joyous occasion, but for one thing: The act could bar her from preaching in United Methodist churches. That's because the couples were gay.

"Most Holy God," she prayed before the assembled. "Today is a day of lament and a day of thanksgiving." Her congregation of about 100 people, many ...