Tell me what's happening at your church right now.

I'm trying to raise enough money to save our building from foreclosure. But the building itself is not the big issue. It's become a symbol for a much larger fight. This is really about the gay community having a victory of sorts, letting the world know it can't beat us. When I say "us" -- I don't happen to be gay. But I support the gay community with all my heart.



How did you become such a strong supporter of gay marriage?

"Jesus could certainly have played it safe. But that's not what he did."

You know, I've always felt this way. This is not something I've evolved into. I've always just felt that people are people. There are all kinds of different people -- some are left handed, and others are right handed. Should we discriminate against people because they're left handed?



That's how I see it. Many of my friends happen to be gay, and some of my enemies, too. They all deserve the same rights I have in terms of being married, and the joys and benefits come along with that. I would not be inclined to be in relationship with another man, but it's not for me to judge two men or women in a relationship. It's about the freedom to love.



The people who left your congregation obviously believe that gay marriage is against the Christian religion. Which parts of scripture do they cite, and how do you read those same passages?



Most people who oppose homosexuality use biblical references found in Leviticus, which state that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Now, that's a misinterpretation of that text. They really need to read further into it. In the same book of Leviticus, it states that if an unmarried woman is not a virgin, she can be put to death. We don't put women to death for that reason nowadays.

The one law I quote frequently and try to conduct my ministry by is the one that Jesus gave: Love God first and then love your neighbor as yourself. And yet, we have laws in Minnesota in 2012 that say oral sex is a sin. You can go to jail for it. Come on people, wake up! Let's get on with it!

What do your congregants say when you tell them that?

People are very selective about what they want to believe. And unfortunately, people do follow pastors who haven't read enough. I tell people that Jesus did a whole lot of things that were contrary to laws that people seem to want to follow today. For example, on the Sabbath day, Jesus did a little healing. That got him in trouble. Jesus hung out with women, and many were prostitutes. That got him in trouble, too. But people have these preconceived views that won't go away.

I'm not going to say that they're dead wrong. My mother, bless her heart, had some ideas that were contrary to mine. I don't think she would have disagreed on the issue of gays and lesbians. My niece happens to be a lesbian, and she and her partner lived with my mother. But there are plenty of other issues where my mother would disagree with me.