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The Rev. Amanda Stein was in the middle of preaching a sermon last Sunday when one of her closest friends called and left a message on her cellphone.

The friend and her partner were planning to get a marriage license in Dane County, part of the wave of same-sex couples taking that step after a federal judge ruled Wisconsin’s ban on gay marriages unconstitutional. The friend wanted to know if Stein would perform the ceremony.

“I was just thrilled — how could you have such terrific friends and say no to them?” said Stein, an associate pastor at Sun Prairie United Methodist Church. “So it was absolutely a yes. Then some back-of-the-mind questions surfaced.”

Stein’s denomination prohibits pastors from performing same-sex marriages and has defrocked some and put others on trial for doing so.

Stein said her personal faith and her longtime ties to the couple led her to marry them Monday during a civil ceremony on the steps of the City-County Building in Madison. She is prepared to face whatever reprisals come her way.

“I feel I’ve remained faithful to my call as a pastor,” she said. “For me, it was all about my love for them. I just feel we’re at a curve in that arc of moral justice.”