Scottish Episcopal Church In UK Becomes The First Church To Permit Gay and Lesbian Weddings

The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to allow gay couples to marry in church.
It makes it the first major Christian church in the UK to allow same-sex marriages.
The vote to amend canon law on marriage, removing the stipulation that it is between a man and a woman, was carried by the Synod in Edinburgh.
It means that gay Christians from any Anglican Church can now ask to be married in a Scottish Anglican Church.
Clergy who wish to officiate at gay marriages will have to "opt-in".
The church said this meant that those who disagreed with gay marriage would be protected and not have to act against their conscience.
But the vote to allow same-sex marriage - which required the backing of at least two thirds of each house of Bishops, Clergy and Laity - has left the church at odds with most of the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Passionate debate
At last year's Synod, members of the Church agreed to send the issue for discussion to its seven dioceses.
Six of them voted in favour of amending the law. Only Aberdeen and Orkney voted against the proposal.
Same sex marriage became legal in Scotland at the end of 2014 but the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church opposed the move.
The issue has provoked passionate debate within the Anglican Communion.
In January last year, the communion sanctioned the US Episcopal Church when it decided to allow gay marriage in church.
However, last month the Church of Scotland voted to approve a report which could allow ministers to conduct same-sex weddings in the future.
And in February, a report opposing gay marriage was opposed by the Church of England's Synod.
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Analysis by BBC Scotland correspondent John McManus
This vote to change canon law, opening marriage to same sex couples, isn't just the latest skirmish in the religious war between traditionalist Christians and those of a more liberal leaning.
It will have profound consequences, because the issue of gay relationships has become a touchstone for those who believe that the Anglican Church has lost its way, and needs to be renewed.
Many Christians who live in the global south, where the 80-plus million Anglican Communion is at its strongest, look with horror at what they see as moves to legitimise gay relationships and lifestyles.
They not only disapprove of those lifestyles, but they see moves such as the ordination of gay clergy as evidence that the church is ignoring the will of God.
The head of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury and he's come under enormous pressure from bishops in Africa and Asia to stand firm on this issue.
Those bishops are growing in influence and have formed an organisation - Gafcon - which is directly challenging the more liberal Christians of the global north.
They will be emboldened by this vote, even if they disapprove of it - and it may hasten a split in the communion, with power moving south to the churches of Africa.