Fresno Priest
Comes Out Against Prop. 8

A Fresno priest decided to fight California's proposed gay marriage ban by coming out as gay himself to parishioners during Sunday mass. Father Geoffrey Farrow, a Catholic priest for 23 years, made the announcement at 11 a.m. mass at the St. Paul Newman Center in his homily about acceptance, love, and rejection, according to KFSN-TV.

"What most Catholics hear about being gay or lesbian at their parish is silence," he said on Sunday. Farrow said that parishioners asked him what direction they should take on Proposition 8. He said that he would go against California's bishops -- including John Steinbock, the head of the diocese of Fresno -- by rejecting the proposition.

"In directing the faithful to vote yes on Proposition 8, the California bishops are not only entering the political arena, they are ignoring the advances and insights of neurology, psychology, and the very statements by the church itself that homosexual is innate," he said. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)