Religious leaders speak out on marriage

Clergy members and LGBT leaders exchanged ideas on how to influence the religious middle on marriage equality and organize opposition to the proposed federal constitutional gay marriage ban during a forum held Tuesday afternoon at San Francisco's LGBT Community Center.

The March 21 event was the first of 11 scheduled programs coordinated by the Horizons Foundation to discuss issues affecting the gay community, according to Roger Doughty, executive director of the organization.

The forum facilitator was the Reverend Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance Foundation, co-sponsor of the discussion.

Speakers included the Reverend Leonard B. Jackson, director emeritus of the IAF and associate minister at the First African Methodist Church in Los Angeles; Dr. Mary Tolbert, executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion; and Rabbi Jack Moline, vice chair of IAF and rabbi of a congregation located in Alexandria, Virginia.

Respondents were: Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry; Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund; Shannon Minter, legal director for National Center for Lesbian Rights; and Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California.

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