Houston Episcopalians hope to offer same-sex rite

  HOUSTON -- An Episcopal church in Houston will be among the first to offer gay and lesbian couples a liturgy blessing same-sex relationships if the denomination approves such rites at its summer convention.

Bishop Andy Doyle of the Houston-based Episcopal Diocese of Texas says he gave St. Stephen's Episcopal Church the go-ahead, even though he plans to vote against the same-sex blessings resolution.

Considering that many Texas Episcopalians oppose same-sex unions, each rector will be allowed to choose whether his or her congregation will offer the ceremony if it's approved.

St. Stephen's rector, the Rev. Lisa Hunt, told the Houston Chronicle this is an important step until "full marriage equality" exists.

The liturgy wouldn't create legal same-sex marriages, since the state of Texas doesn't recognize such unions.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Get more Local »

local
// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/ktrk/xml?id=5758258&ptnr=promoCarousel");

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

View the original article here