It was nearly three decades in the making, but the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has ordained its first openly gay pastor. The Rev. Scott Anderson was ordained Saturday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Madison, Wisconsin.
"It's an exciting time for me personally to be the first openly gay person ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and it's a big moment for our church that has has excluded gays and lesbians for so many decades, so it's a new day for us," Anderson told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Anderson had previously been a Presbyterian pastor but left the ministry in 1990 after he was outed by congregants.
At the time, the church required pastors, deacons and elders "to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness," according to its constitution, known as the Book of Order.
Anderson was in a homosexual relationship that violated the church's policy at the time.
"I had been a Presbyterian pastor for eight years, and when I left, I never thought this day would come in my lifetime. God has brought a variety of surprises to my life, and this certainly is the biggest one," Anderson said.
The argument for this is simple: LGBT folks attend religious services, have questions about faith, and contribute to congregations all across the country. It's good to see the leaders of at least some of these congregations actively reflect more of their followers.
We're all human, as they say. It's a start...a long overdue and depressingly small one, but a start it is.
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