(Summit News) Openly gay priest and long-time LGBT activist Lars Gårdfeldt has vowed to stop performing marriage ceremonies for heterosexual couples in Sweden.
Yes, really.
Gårdfeldt announced that he would refuse to marry straight couples in protest against a rule within the Church of Sweden that allows newly ordained priests to refuse to marry same-sex couples.
“Then the same thing must apply to me as a homosexual, then I can say no to heterosexual couples,” Gårdfeldt told the Göteborgs-Posten.
“I want to show the absurdity, theologically and ethically reprehensible, of denying marriage to consenting adults. I want to turn the debate right. We should not recruit new anti-gay priests. We should not ordain new priests who pass on the idea that homosexuals are inferior people,” he added.
Torgny Lindén, the Press Secretary of the Diocese of Gothenburg, offered little pushback to Gårdfeldt promise, merely pointing out that it was his right to have free expression, adding, “We have no opinion on this.”
Gårdfeldt married his now transgender partner in Canada in 2006, before gay marriage was allowed in Swedish churches. He said he also performed gay marriage ceremonies for years before it was permitted by the Church.
As we previously highlighted, the Church of Sweden published an open letter back in May that was signed by a long list of priests, deacons, and other church staff, proudly announcing that it is “trans” – whatever that means.
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