United Church of Christ Backs Same-Sex Marriage

The United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when its general synod passed a resolution on Monday affirming equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender. The resolution was adopted in the face of efforts to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. It was both a theological statement and a protest against discrimination, said the Rev John H Thomas, the president and general minister of the denomination, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members