St. Mark’s and Gay Rights
"To discriminate against some members of our congregation is to discriminate against us all. We choose to stand together. Since some of our members are homosexual, so are we all in the face of discrimination. Since some of our members are Jewish, so are we all in the face of discrimination. Since some of our members are children, so are we all in the face of discrimination. We are mothers, fathers, single, married, gay, straight, old, young, African-American, white, Latino, Asian-American, handicapped; we are many faces of humanity. As a congregation, however, we are one."
— St. Mark's Vestry in a letter to Rep. Clyde Holloway, June 1992
St. Mark's has publicly spoken as a community in support of gay rights since our former rector, Rev. Jim Adams, testified before Congress in 1992. Most recently, our rector, Rev. Paul Roberts Abernathy, testified before the District of Columbia City Council on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009. Please take a look at the documents chronicling Jim Adams' complete testimony, the Vestry response, and the Washington Post articles covering the event, as well as Paul Abernathy's testimony confirming our belief that marriage is an equal right shared by all regardless of gender.