Subject: ANOTHER UNION CEREMONY to take place in Nebraska
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 00:43:27 EDT

THREE MORE CLERGY IN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ANNOUNCE PLANS TO HOLD SAME SEX 
UNION CEREMONY

Press Release: May 11, 2000     Media Contact: Laura Montgomery Rutt
For Immediate Release               717-627-7180 

`NEBRASKA CONFERENCE MINISTERS CHALLENGE CHURCH POLICY ON HOLY UNIONS

Cleveland - A minister in the Nebraska Conference of the United Methodist 
Church announced today that he plans to perform a union ceremony for two men 
in Omaha, Nebraska on June 3, 2000.  The announcement came on the day in 
which the General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to maintain 
the prohibition against minister conducting same sex union ceremonies.

The Reverend Mark Roland Kemling, an ordained elder in The United Methodist 
Church, stated that he had agreed earlier this year to perform the ceremony.  
At least two other ministers in the Nebraska Conference have agreed to stand 
with him during the ceremony, to offer their support.

"I was greatly disappointed that The United Methodist Church would decide to 
continue its discriminatory policies," stated Rev. Kemling. "It is my belief 
that we should be extending the full ministry of the church to all people, no 
matter of who they love."

United Methodist Church policy prohibits ministers from performing union 
ceremonies of couples of the same sex.  Rev. Jimmy Creech, who was also from 
Nebraska, was recently defrocked for celebrating a union ceremony for two men.

"I am performing this covenant between two people who love one another 
because I am called to be in ministry with all people," declared Rev. 
Kemling. "Change doesn't come without conflict.  The church is discriminating 
against loving relationships, and I need to stand up for the integrity of my 
beliefs. This issue isn't settled yet."