Presbyterian Church to ordain first openly gay minister

From the Los Angeles Times:

For decades, the Rev. Mark Achtemeier believed gays and lesbians were unfit to serve as leaders in the Presbyterian Church.

He believed homosexuality to be a kind of affliction, a destructive addiction that ran counter to Scripture. In the 1990s he helped craft restrictions to keep gay and lesbian candidates from joining the Presbyterian clergy.

 But on Saturday, Achtemeier will deliver a sermon at the ordination of his friend Scott Anderson, who will become the first openly gay minister in the church after the very restrictions Achtemeier once advocated were abolished.

 In May, the Presbyterian Church USA voted to amend its constitution to allow gays and lesbians to serve as ministers and lay leaders. With the move, the 2.3-million-member church became the fourth mainline Protestant denomination to allow gay ordination, following the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran churches and the United Church of Christ. Click here to read more.