Minute Affirming the Good Order of Same-Sex Marriages

Friends in New England Yearly Meeting experience the varieties of love in our community as gifts of God. We are all children of God, and we all have the same potential to reflect the Divine Light in our lives. Our hearts resonate deeply with the biblical injunctions to “love God” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Just as Friends have historically witnessed to the Light present among all races and genders, we witness that the Light is present among people of all sexual orientations and gender identities or gender expressions. We experience our sexuality and sexual identity as integral components of who we are as children of God. 

We are grateful for the fruits of the Spirit and the blessings of ministry and leadership that God has sent our spiritual community through the hands and lives of all Friends, regardless of their sexual orientation or identity. Being mindful of the oppression lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, intersex, and queer (LGTBIQ) Friends face, we feel a special commitment to offer loving support to these Friends.

We recognize that families that include LGTBIQ parents or children face additional difficulties in our society. We hope to remain sensitive to those difficulties and to respond together with love, integrity, and witness when needed. We recognize the need to support children who are questioning their own sexual orientation or gender, and we support their discernment and living out of the identity the Spirit leads them to. 

For many years, many of our monthly meetings have experienced the blessings of having same-sex couples and marriages in our midst. With every marriage taken under its care, the meeting affirms that each relationship is the work of the Spirit, and a blessing to the couple, to their families and to the Friends community. We affirm the good order of same-sex marriages that are and have been conducted in some monthly meetings of NEYM. We encourage all of our constituent monthly meetings to discern how they can best offer to all couples the same care, and affirmations of their leadings to walk together in love. 

—NEYM Annual Sessions Minute 2009-53, “Minute of Affirmation for Consideration of Monthly Meetings” (2009 Minute Book p. 32).