Presbyterian Church rebukes "lesbian evangelist"
Fri Aug 24, 2007
By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Presbyterian Church has rebuked one of its ministers who describes herself as a "lesbian evangelist" for presiding over two gay weddings, officials said on Friday.

Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, 65, in 1992 became the first openly lesbian Presbyterian minister to be appointed a local church pastor -- a move later overturned by the church's top judicial body. She since has been an outspoken advocate for gay rights -- and gay marriage rites.

She has challenged the church by presiding over hundreds of gay unions, many of which were not called marriages. She faced the church's judicial scrutiny after marrying two men in 2004 and two women in 2005. the rest