Jimmy Creech | |
|---|---|
 Creech in 1992 | |
| Born | James Edward Creech October 21, 1944 |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouses |
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| Religion | United Methodist Church |
| Ordained | June 1970 [1] : 24 |
| Laicized | November 17, 1999 |
James Edward Creech (born October 21, 1944) is an American gay rights activist and former minister in the United Methodist Church who was defrocked in 1999 for marrying same-sex couples.
James Edward Creech was born to a Methodist family in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on October 21, 1944. [1] : 6 [2] He earned a bachelor's degree in biblical studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and graduated from Duke University in 1970 with a Masters of Divinity. [1] : 20 [2] He began his career serving Methodist congregations in North Carolina. [2] In 1984, he became active in gay rights advocacy when a congregant came out to him, in response to the United Methodist Church formally banning "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from becoming clergy. [2] [3]
Due to his activism, he was not reappointed pastor of his Raleigh, North Carolina, congregation in 1990. [2] He subsequently worked for the North Carolina Council of Churches, a progressive organization, where he served as its liaison to the state legislature and focused on LGBT rights, the abolition of the death penalty, and worker's rights. [1] : 82 [2]
In 1996, he was appointed senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska, where he performed a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple the following year. [2] As such ceremonies were not allowed by the denomination, he was suspended and faced a defrocking trial, from which he was acquitted. [2] He returned to North Carolina, where he performed another ceremony for a gay couple, leading to a second trial that ended with his defrocking. [2] Creech denounced the second trial and did not enter a plea, performing a final ceremony the day before he was defrocked on November 17, 1999. [4]
Afterward, Creech became a founding member of the North Carolina Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality, an interfaith same-sex marriage advocacy group, [5] [6] co-author of the Dallas Principles, [7] was a participant in the Marriage Equality Express, and became Board Chairman of the North Carolina Social Justice Project, [8] a progressive policy and advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating inequality in North Carolina.
Creech appeared in A Union in Wait , a 2001 Sundance Channel documentary film about same-sex marriage. In 2007 Creech became the executive director of Faith In America, a non-profit organisation founded by Mitchell Gold, focused on educating people about religion-based bigotry. [9]
Creech's memoir, Adam's Gift: A Memoir of a Pastor’s Calling to Defy the Church's Persecution of Lesbians and Gays [10] was published by Duke University Press in 2011. He was interviewed [11] on The State of Things on WUNC on April 11, 2011, to discuss his new book.
In 2024, the United Methodist Church ended its bans on same-sex marriages and LGBT clergy, and allowed pastors who were defrocked under those policies to apply for reinstatement. Creech told the Associated Press that he was pleased by the decisions but would not seek reinstatement, saying that "I am not nor cannot be in pastoral ministry at this time in my life". [3]
In 1967, Creech married Merle Smith; they had one son and later divorced. [1] : 45 In 1992, he married social worker and activist Chris Weedy, becoming a stepfather to her daughter. [1] : 89–92 Weedy died from cancer in 2021. [12]
As of 2016 [update] , Creech lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. [2]
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The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
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A Union in Wait is a 2001 American documentary film about same-sex marriage directed by Ryan Butler. It was the first documentary about same-sex marriage to air on national television in the United States.
This is a history of same-sex unions in cultures around the world. Various types of same-sex unions have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned, and temporary relationships to highly ritualized unions that have included marriage. State-recognized same-sex unions have recently become more widely accepted, with various countries recognizing same-sex marriages or other types of unions. A celebrated achievement in LGBT history occurred when Queen Beatrix signed a law making Netherlands the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights in Latvia have expanded substantially in recent years, although LGBT people still face various challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female types of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Latvia, but households headed by same-sex couples are ineligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Since May 2022, same-sex couples have been recognized as "family" by the Administrative District Court, which gives them some of the legal protections available to married (opposite-sex) couples; as of 2023 November, around 40 couples have been registered via this procedure. In November 2023 registered partnerships were codified into law. These partnerships are available to both same and different sex couples - since July 1, 2024 the implemented registered partnership law has the similar rights and obligations as married couples - with the exception of the title of marriage, and adoption or inheritance rights.
Methodist viewpoints concerning homosexuality are diverse because there is no one denomination which represents all Methodists. The World Methodist Council, which represents most Methodist denominations, has no official statements regarding sexuality. Various Methodist denominations themselves take different stances on the issue of homosexuality, with many denominations holding homosexual practice to be sinful, while other denominations ordain LGBT clergy and marry same-sex couples. The positions of the various Methodist denominations around the globe are outlined in this article.
Equality NC(ENC) is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy group and political lobbying organization in North Carolina and is the oldest statewide LGBTQ equality organization in the United States.
The North Carolina Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality was an interfaith same-sex marriage advocacy group composed of religious leaders in North Carolina. The group's headquarters were at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh which has hosted speeches with James A. Forbes of the Riverside Church in regards to LGBT rights. The steering committee included executive director Jimmy Creech, group coordinator Chantelle Fisher-Borne, Mary E. Grigolia of the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Jack McKinney of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Susan Parker of Wake Forest Baptist Church, Steve Smith of the North Carolina Council of Churches, and Wanda Floyd of the Imani Metropolitan Community Church.
Many views are held or have been expressed by religious organisation in relation to same-sex marriage. Arguments both in favor of and in opposition to same-sex marriage are often made on religious grounds and/or formulated in terms of religious doctrine. Although many of the world's religions are opposed to same-sex marriage, the number of religious denominations that are conducting same-sex marriages have been increasing since 2010. Religious views on same-sex marriage are closely related to religious views on homosexuality.
The Marriage Equality Caravan, or Marriage Equality Express, was an educational bus tour organized by the California chapter of Marriage Equality USA, in response to the invalidation by the California Supreme Court, on August 11, 2004, of 4,000 same-sex marriages that had taken place between February 12 and March 11 of that year. The tour was led by Davina Kotulski, Molly McKay, Belinda Ryan, Wendy Daw, Jacqueline Frank, and Bev Senkowski.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in North Carolina since October 10, 2014, when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper that the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional. Governor Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper had acknowledged that a recent ruling in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear an appeal in that case established the unconstitutionality of North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage. State legislators sought without success to intervene in lawsuits to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage. North Carolina was the 28th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
Franklyn "Frank" Schaefer is a German-American author and an LGBTQ advocate. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.
Paul Milford Abels (1937–1992) was an American Methodist minister who became the country's first openly gay minister with a congregation in a major Christian denomination. He served as pastor from 1973 to 1984 of the Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.
Jeanne Barnett was an American activist and a California state employment official. She was active in the United Methodist Church for the inclusion of LGBT members and clergy, and her 1999 "holy union ceremony" in Sacramento was a well-publicized protest against denominational policies.
