N.Y. Presbytery OKs Gay Holy Unions

A Presbyterian church group that represents 20,000 faithful in seven New York counties has approved same-sex holy unions that stop short of marriage.

“I think that God’s tears are a lot less every time we affirm monogamy over promiscuity,” said the Rev. Steve Geckeler, minister of the Presbyterian Church in White Plains, who participated in the vote by ministers and lay members.

However, “a marriage is still understood as being between a man and a woman,” Geckeler said.

The presbytery voted three months after a presbytery committee began investigating South Presbyterian Church in nearby Dobbs Ferry, which openly performs same-sex unions. The committee found that such unions are allowed but that they do not constitute marriage.

The Book of Order of the 2.7-million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not mention same-sex unions, but church officials have recommended that ministers not perform ceremonies that are the “same as a marriage ceremony.”