October 21, 2013
Mich. Female Pastor Resigns After Marrying Woman
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A female pastor has resigned from a Detroit church after disclosing that she married a woman.
Bishop Allyson Nelson Abrams stepped down from Zion Progress Baptist Church on Friday. The Detroit Free Press says she told congregants on Oct. 6 that she married a pastor affiliated with a Washington, D.C., church.
Abrams married Diana Williams, a bishop emeritus with Washington's Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation, which has separated from the Catholic Church. They wed in Iowa, where same-sex marriage is legal.
Abrams, who once was married to a man, said leaving was necessary to prevent further division in her church. She said some urged her to stay, but others had learned about her marriage before the announcement and were making an issue out of it.
