Michigan pastor sleeping in tent in support of LGBTQ people

By Greg White 

Staff writer

LAWRENCE, Mich. — A Michigan pastor has been sleeping outside in a tent for weeks to protest his denomination's stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that the Rev. Michael Tupper of Parchment United Methodist Church near Kalamazoo started sleeping in a tent Nov. 30 and plans to continue doing so for 175 consecutive nights. He often pitches the tent in the front yard of his Van Buren County home, but he has also taken it on the road, sleeping in front of United Methodist conference headquarters in Indianapolis and Madison, Wisconsin.

Tupper says his protest is meant to symbolize how the United Methodist Church is pushing the LGBTQ community outside of the church.

Tupper has faced discipline several times for supporting same-sex marriages.

In a Christian Post report last October, Tupper faced a complaint filed against him for officiating a same-sex wedding, violating the denomination's Book of Discipline which forbids clergy from performing gay weddings.

Tupper said he participated in the gay marriage ceremony in order "to bring light to the harm done by the United Methodist Church to LGBTQ people."
 

The Associated Press contributed to portions of this story.

The Gayly- 2/18/2016 @ 10:05 AM CST