re: #178 Eclectic Cyborg

Full disclosure: I am ordained with ULC, but let me explain why.

A friend of mine from Canada decided, like I did, to move to the U.S. after meeting a guy down here and getting engaged. She is Pentecostal, he is Mennonite. The wedding was going to be held in the grooms Mennonite community. However, they could not find any officiants willing to marry them unless the bride converted to be a Mennonite.

Now I know you might ask: “Why not just do it at a courthouse and sort out the rest later?”

Well, the groom was worried his Mennonite friends and family would throw a shit fit if he and his bride eschewed the traditional church wedding. The bride, being religious herself, also wanted a traditional ceremony and she was getting to the point of being extremely stressed out that she couldn’t find anyone to marry them.

So eventually I said “fuck this mess”, got myself ordained and officiated my friends wedding myself. I have no regrets about doing so.

My wife is also ordained with ULC. She did that when Obergefell was decided by the Supreme Court.

No church in this area will perform a wedding for same-sex couples because they are all inclusive. The county court doesn’t do civil marriages (it never has).

Thus she obtained her credentials to provide a way for people around here to get married if they wanted to do so. She posited a question to the county prosecutor if it would be legal, he punted to the state attorney general, and he came back and said “yup.”