Swedish priest boycotts hetero marriages

Recently, the bishops of the Church of Sweden decided that priests should be left to choose whether they want to perform same-sex marriages. Therefore, people who oppose gay marriages can still be appointed as priests.

Lars Gårdfeldt decided in autumn that he would stop marrying heterosexual couples in protest, even though he regrets this, Dagen reports. Gårdfeldt: "I said that I can not be loyal to an arrangement that allows the ordination of candidates who declare that they will refuse to marry same-sex couples." He intends to continue his action until the Church of Sweden decides that all priests have to marry same-sex couples.

Priest Gårdfeldt is part of the Carl Johan's pastorate in Gothenburg. Pontus Bäckström is his parish priest. Bäckström says that Gårdfeldt's refusal to marry heterosexual couples does not pose a problem. "Everyone knows why Lars does not marry heterosexual couples. It is not because he thinks heterosexual love is wrong or less worthwhile. The decision has led to good conversations", he says to Dagen. Therefore, Bäckström has no objections.

The bishop of the diocese of Gothenburg, Susanne Rappman, argues that Gårdfeldt has the right to refrain from marrying a couple, just as all priests do. "Therefore, there is nothing I can comment on."