3 Ministers Quit Group of Peers Because 1 Member Is Lesbian

NOVATO —  Three ministers have quit a ministerial association put together by their peers because one of its members is a lesbian and the others refuse to ask her to resign.

The departing ministers say they cannot associate with someone who is openly gay.

“My appeal to the ministers is: ‘Don’t let this split us up.’ Satan is certainly an ace at doing that,” the Rev. W. Lee Grady said. “This lady, if she were living a clean life . . . would be welcome like all of us.”

Pastor Marilyn Hedges-Hiller, 46, has been open about her sexuality since her 20s, but the issue did not come up with the ministerial group until January. That was when the monthly issue of Slant, a gay and lesbian newspaper published in nearby Corte Madera, printed an article about her.

Hedges-Hiller founded the New Faith Church in Novato last year.

A majority of the group’s dozen ministers voted not to expel Hedges-Hiller or ask her to quit the group, of which she had been a member for almost a year. The ministers who left are Grady of Novato Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Rev. Gregg Mervich of Marin Christian Life Church and the Rev. Greg Escher of Open Door Christian Church.