Task force to study Episcopal diocese's same-sex marriage ban

Staff photo by Doug Strickland
Ashley Hamilton holds up a 100-foot rainbow flag at its center during a celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of same-sex marriage held Friday, June 26, 2015, at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga, Tenn. Supporters gathered to praise past and current activists in their work towards marriage equality.
Staff photo by Doug Strickland Ashley Hamilton holds up a 100-foot rainbow flag at its center during a celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of same-sex marriage held Friday, June 26, 2015, at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga, Tenn. Supporters gathered to praise past and current activists in their work towards marriage equality.

Instead of appealing to the national Episcopal church or the bishop to lift his own ban on priests officiating same-sex marriages, lay and clergy members of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee sent the matter to a task force for further study.

More than two-thirds of the delegates at the diocese's Annual Convention on Saturday supported a resolution that directs the diocese's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender task force to assess how Bishop John Bauerschmidt's marriage restrictions affect congregations and clergy in Middle Tennessee.

By passing the resolution, delegates opted not to take up others that more pointedly addressed the ban.

Read the full story from our news partners at the Tennessean, here.

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