[1]More than two decades after Scott Anderson told his California congregation that he was gay and therefore must resign as its pastor, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is preparing to welcome him back.
Anderson will be ordained today as the denomination's first openly gay minister, marking the latest mainline Protestant church to move toward accepting homosexual relationships.
During a recent interview at his new church in Wisconsin, the 56-year-old Anderson recalled keeping his personal life a secret from 1983 to 1990.
He told his congregation the truth and resigned after a couple learned he was gay and tried to use the information against him. "That was really the best and worst moment of my life," Anderson said.
"It was the best because I was able to claim for the first time who I was as a gay man. That was incredibly empowering. But there was also the sadness, the grief of leaving the ministry and what I loved."
Today's ordination was made possible by decades of debate over whether openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the church.
The church constitution used to include language requiring that clergy live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." The Presbyterian national assembly last year endorsed removing that rule.
The change was approved in May by a majority of the denomination's 173 regional church bodies.
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