An official whose refusal to list a gay man as the surviving spouse on a death certificate led to last week’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage has delivered a Bible reading at a gay wedding.
Ohio’s health director, Rick Hodges, told the Northeast Ohio Media Group he’s been friends with one of the grooms, Steve George, for 25 years. George worked in Republican Gov. John Kasich’s administration.
The gay marriage case that gave same-sex couples the legal right to marry began in Ohio but ultimately combined six lawsuits filed by 32 couples, widowers and children in four states that didn’t recognize gay marriage. The lawsuit bore Hodges’ name because he heads the Ohio Department of Health, which records vital statistics.
The Ohio governor has said he believes marriage is between a man and woman, but after the high court’s decision he declared that the court’s ruling must be respected. He also attended George’s wedding to Jeff Gatwood.
Hodges said he saw no irony in being the defendant in a case against gay marriage one week and a reader at a same-sex wedding the next.
”I love my friend,” he said.
The passage he read involves Jesus being asked to identify the greatest commandment. Jesus answers that it is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. ”And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these,” the passage reads.