History was made yesterday as the first marriage of a same-sex couple in a UK church took place at Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Bournemouth.
While many same-sex couples have married since the law first allowed them to do so on March 29 this was the first ceremony to be conducted in a religious building.
The couple, Jan Tipper and Barb Burden who are long time members of the church were legally married in the church’s building on Hannington Road in the Bournemouth suburb of Pokesdown. The building which has long been registered for heterosexual marriages was registered for same-sex marriages when the recent changes in the law took effect at the end of March. The priest and pastor, Reverend Dwayne Morgan, officiated at the ceremony as an authorised person by the General Register Office.
The Rev Morgan, said: “We have been offering wedding services for same-sex couples for many years in our church because we believe that God blesses the love of two people no matter what their gender.”
“But to finally have the government fully recognise their love by giving them complete legal status as a married couple is a blessing for everyone. We are extremely pleased that the government didn’t just listen to those churches that wanted to completely block same-sex couples from the right to have their marriage consecrated in their place of worship, but heard the voices of the minority of people of faith who believe that God doesn’t discriminate. We are grateful to all those who have struggled for the rights of gay people for so many years that has led us to this historic day.”
Barb added: “We were surprised when Rev Morgan told us we’d be the first in a church. As it’s been approved since March 29, we assumed there had already been others who had taken advantage.”
“Unfortunately it shows the lack of effective ministry by most churches to gay people in so many ways.”
Jan concluded: “We’re lucky that we found MCC 15 years ago.”
“It’s been an important part of our lives and our relationship. To get married in our church was very significant to us. Even though we’ve been together for almost 19 years it didn’t feel right for us to have just a blessing or even a Civil Partnership. We’ve hoped for years for the opportunity to legally marry and once it became possible we knew it was time for us to tie the knot and to do it before God in our church with our friends and family.”
MCC was established in Bournemouth in 1979 and is associated with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches which has churches in over 40 countries. The first MCC in the United Kingdom was founded in London in 1973 and there are now 11 MCCs in the UK.
Rev Morgan, said: “We have been blessing gay couples for over three decades since our beginnings in the 1970s so we’re glad the government has finally caught up with us.”
“Through years of homophobia and oppressive laws against gay people, MCC has taken pride in celebrating diversity and striving to include everyone. We do our best to get the word out that while many of Jesus’ followers discriminate, Jesus himself does not. It’s a message that we first took to the gay community but now we are finding many who come along as they are looking for a church that preaches an inclusive message. And not only will we fully include you in our worship, but we’ll marry you too!”
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