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Unity minister says he's ready to provide civil union services

Capitol Correspondent

LANSING –
The Rev. Kent Lederer of Unity of Greater Lansing has taken over the reins of what he describes as a "transdenominational" church and is ready to start performing civil unions.
The 60-year-old openly gay minister has been ministering for the last 12 years, first in Chicago, then Savannah and now Lansing. During that time he has performed "60 or 62 or something like that" commitment ceremonies. Those ceremonies have ranged from himself, two lesbians, their cat and an empty house, to a grand event between two men in leather tuxedos.
"When a couple approaches us, we don't require religious indoctrination or anything like that," he says. "They don't have to join the church membership either."
He says the commitment ceremonies just make sense from the organization's perspective. The denomination was founded in the 1890s by a woman, and was among the first in the country to ordain women as well as openly lesbian and gay ministers.
"It's not a don't ask, don't tell policy. It's a don't ask, we don't care policy," he says of the church's take on homosexuality.
Lederer knows the importance of the ceremony as well. In 1996 his late partner Dean and he went through a ceremony on Kuai, at the garden of the Unity minister's condo association, located in an extinct volcano. His partner passed away two years later from AIDS.
The two met when Lederer was 44 and Dean 26. Both lied about their ages to each other, Lederer shaving ten years from his age, while Dean added 5 years to his age. It was not until the two had been dating for a year when they acknowledged their actual ages.
He says when a couple approaches him, he meets with them and presents them a pre-made ceremony. He encourages the couples to change to it fit their needs and views. He says he has had couples remove any reference to Christ, or change the word God to light and universe.
He also believes it is important to honor various ethnic and religious ceremonies when developing the them with couples.
In addition to working through the ceremony's events, like music and language, Lederer says he also works with couples to share the legal issues necessary to solidify their relationships.
"I spend ten or fifteen minutes going over stuff like wills,living wills, and power of attorney so they know what to talk to an attorney about," he says. He says it is an important part of the process, particularly for lesbian and gay couples who do not have the power of a state sanctioned relationship.
He says he will also refer couples to counselors if they want to do premarital counseling.
In the end, the goal is to put together a ceremony that reflects the couple and celebrates their relationships.

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