To the MN Senate Judiciary Committee: Support Marriage for All

I just had the opportunity to testify before the MN Senate Judiciary Committee along with other pastors, business leaders, Republicans and Democrats, couples and adult children of gay couples, in support of the legislation that recognizes marriage for all. The testimonies have been poignant and moving.

Here's what I said.

Mr. Chair and Members of the Committee, it is an honor and privilege to testify in support of legislation to recognize marriage for all loving, committed couples.

I serve as pastor of Spirit of Joy Christian Church in Lakeville. For 23 years, it has been my deep privilege to officiate at weddings for loving couples in every church I've served. It is a humble joy to stand with a loving couple as they commit themselves to one another in love. I look forward to the day our 14 year-old son meets someone he chooses to marry—just not yet!

Five years ago in Lynchburg, Virginia, two young women who met in my church came to me asking to marry. I considered their request as I would any other church members. Of course the church would bless their covenant of love and mutual commitment.

In our months of premarital counseling I saw first-hand just how much pain we inflict on a minority of loving families when we deny them the privileges we gladly grant others. I realized just how very many privileges my wife Katy and I enjoy simply because we are married.

For 23 years, Katy and I have shared the good, hard work of life together "for better for worse, in sickness and in health." We have been blessed with opportunities, privileges, and responsibilities because we have the freedom to marry.

No pastor, church or religious institution can ever be forced to solemnize a union they do not support. I have said no to couples before, as have many pastors. But many congregations, like mine, yearn for the day we can say yes to all loving, committed couples equally, not only as a church but as a wider society.

I urge you to support this legislation that affirms what we already know: not only that marriage is good, hard work, but also and especially that it is rooted in love, commitment, and responsibility, and it is a benefit to society. It is time to end the discrimination and honor loving, committed, same-sex couples with the same freedoms and opportunities as the rest of us.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.