Trial of lesbian pastor set to begin

SEATTLE -- Today, the Rev. Karen Dammann, who three years ago declared she was in an openly gay relationship, faces perhaps one of the most grueling events of her life: a church trial for breaking United Methodist law by being a minister while in such a relationship.

Last week, the pastor, who formerly served in Seattle and most recently in Ellensburg, Wash., experienced one of the happiest events: She got married.

"I wanted to be supportive of the effort to move our culture" toward open acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships, said Dammann, shortly after she and her partner of about nine years, Meredith Savage, wed in Portland, Ore., where county officials opened the door to gay marriage this month. "We wanted to add our relationship to all the others that stand to be recognized."

Similarly, Dammann hopes her trial, scheduled to start today at Bothell United Methodist Church, will help move society and the church toward greater acceptance of gay clergy. Retired Bishop William Boyd Grove, of West Virginia, will preside at the trial, which is drawing national attention.

Now on family leave from Ellensburg United Methodist Church, Dammann is accused of breaking church law, which prohibits the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." If a jury of fellow clergy, selected from a pool appointed by Pacific Northwest regional church leaders, finds her guilty, it may remove her from ministry.

"It's a lot of turmoil," said Dammann, 47. "It's sobering to realize a week from now . . . I could be a layperson."

Just as the consecration of openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson revealed deep splits in his denomination, both nationally and worldwide, so too does Dammann's trial.

"If a majority of Methodists believed that the homosexual cause was just and belonged in the church, it would've been voted into the national conference. That hasn't happened," said Richard Tate, 67, a member of Ellensburg United Methodist Church. "That's because the majority of Methodists believe as I do -- in traditional values."

At the same time, members of Reconciling Ministries Network, a Methodist grass-roots group that advocates for people of all sexual orientations, plan to support Dammann at the trial. And Soulforce, a national interfaith gay-rights group, plans to have at least 100 members at the trial in the hopes of disrupting it.

"We feel the symbolism of this trial is extremely important," said the Rev. Mel White, executive director and founder of Soulforce. Dammann "was a pastor with tremendous success, but because she was honest about her relationship with another woman, for simply saying who she is, the United Methodist Church has decided to try her."

In February 2001, Dammann revealed in a letter to Bishop Elias Galvan, head of the church's Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, that she was in a "partnered, covenanted, homosexual relationship." The Pacific Northwest Conference encompasses Washington and northern Idaho.

Galvan, under church orders, filed a complaint against Dammann.

Various panels at different levels within the church have gone back and forth on the case.

At Dammann's trial, nine of 13 jurors are needed to convict. If Dammann is found guilty, a decision she could appeal, the same jury also would decide her penalty. The most serious would strip her of ministry.

If she is acquitted, she would be considered in good standing and be available for further assignments.

The church could not appeal that verdict.

While a few other Methodist clergy over the years have faced church trials for blessing same-gender unions, there has been only one church trial in the past 20 years in the Pacific Northwest Conference.