Support From An Unlikely Source: Arizona Clergy Members Back Marriage Equality

Jonathan Frahm

Staff Writer

@JNoodles_

Being an Arizona resident myself, I can personally attest to the uphill climb that we Arizonans still have to climb in order to fully accept the LGBT members of our community.

While cities like Tucson are typically meccas for the younger generation of LGBT-friendly Arizonans to congregate, there’s no denying that hypocrites are still out there.

It’s increasingly hard to convince politicians to do much else than make “strategic business decisions” to not take away business from our desert state. In other words, we’re far from convincing them of doing things out of even a shred of pure human decency, and it’s been tough to invoke equal rights for LGBT couples here as a result.

With that said, from out of a place typically incredibly “traditional” in their views, a light has shone in as an Arizonan clergy has decided to come out in support of LGBT rights. They met on May 27 in Phoenix when they decided on the action, making it a point to show that some religious leaders are actually for marriage equality as opposed to against it in the way other religious entities are. It took place at the United Church of Christ and happened thanks to the group Why Marriage Matters Arizona.

Along with this enlightened decision by the local clergy come several reported legal cases being prepared against the bans set against equal rights in Arizona. Maybe we’re really making steps in the right direction, yet!