"Being gay is not an issue here"

The following if from Monday, November 19, 2001. At the time of the story AP new of over a dozen non celibate gays serving in ELCA congregations. Few bishops disciplined and the number has since grown much higher. Does not Recommendation 3 validate the bishops refusal, i.e., isn't one of the motives of Rec 3 covering past violations?

"Florida's first noncelibate, gay Lutheran pastor named in Key West"


Key West, Florida (AP) -

"A congregation has installed the first noncelibate, gay Lutheran pastor in Florida, adding fuel to a national debate on the role sexually active homosexuals play in Protestant churches.


Arlo David Peterson was named pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church although unmarried people, including gay men and women, are only allowed to be Lutheran pastors if they vow to remain celibate.


"I've lived in the closet most of my life, but I came to Key West for the sake of my relationship," said Peterson, who was a Lutheran pastor for more than 20 years in New York and named adjunct pastor at Holy Trinity in August 1999. "Being gay is not an issue here."


With his installation, Peterson joined more than a dozen gay or lesbian Lutheran pastors nationwide who are serving in defiance of church rules, said Greg Egertson, a board member of the Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministry, a national group that helps recruit, place and independently certify gay and lesbian pastors.


Lutheran churches in California, Kansas City, Iowa and Minnesota have installed noncelibate gay pastors in recent years, despite warnings from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the nation's fifth-largest Protestant denomination."