Unitarians Endorse Same-Sex Marriages

The Unitarian Universalist Assn. has voted to endorse the legalization of same-sex marriages, making it the first denomination in the country to do so.

Meeting in Indianapolis, delegates to the liberal religious group’s annual convention this week voted overwhelmingly--667 to 19--to “proclaim the worth of marriage between any two committed persons.”

With the vote, support of same-sex marriage becomes official policy of the Boston-based denomination, which calls itself “a creedless religion with Jewish and Christian roots” and has 205,000 members nationwide.

Under church rules, each of the denomination’s 1,040 congregations can decide individually whether to endorse the marriages of gay and lesbian couples and whether to host such weddings.