Monday, May 27, 2013

L.A.-born Episcopal leader brings his liberal views to Washington

From The LA Times-

A bearded young comedy writer espousing progressive views in Hollywood in the early 1970s might not have surprised anyone. But when the same man, who is now the Very Rev. Gary Hall, started advocating the same views from the Washington National Cathedral's pulpit, people noticed.

Shortly after Hall became the Episcopal cathedral's 10th dean in October, the church's leaders announced the cathedral would start performing same-sex marriages. The ensuing wave of news stories surprised Hall, who said he has been blessing same-sex relationships since 1990, when he was a priest at Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church.

"I thought it was no big deal," Hall said at a recent reception for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at his home on the cathedral grounds. Hall was the first dean to host an LGBT event on the grounds.

The unlikely path to the priesthood for the Los Angeles-born son of an actor and a costume designer started in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when he had shoulder-length hair and rode a motorcycle on the California coast. These days, the slim, clean-cut 63-year-old, married to the same woman for 35 years, says he is fighting the same anti-discrimination fight he fought then, but with different victims.


More here-

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dean-hall-20130527,0,1392183.story

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