Geoffrey Farrow, a Roman Catholic priest and pastor of St. Paul's Newman Center in Fresno, California, delivered a pulpit statement at the end of the 11:00 AM Mass on October 5, 2008, in support for the right of same-sex couples to enter into civil marriage in the State of California. Subsequently, relieved of his duties and suspended as a priest and removed as pastor of St. Paul's by his bishop for making this public statement, he was also stripped of his salary, retirement benefits, and health insurance; and was also forbidden from visiting parishes at which he had served, or publishing on the Internet. Farrow continued to engage in public speaking to advance the cause of LGBT rights.

Background

Farrow was born in Cuba and grew up in Illinois and Florida. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from St. John's College in 1981 and a Masters in Divinity in 1985 from St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, California. He served as an Officer/Chaplain in the U. S. Air Force Reserves and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal. He was stationed at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

Subsequent events

On November 17, 2008 the City of West Hollywood, California commended Farrow for his fight for equal rights. On June 22, 2009 the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

commended Farrow for his generous and tireless work in the LGBT community and beyond. Farrow and 12 other activists protested the U.S. military policy known as " don't ask, don't tell" by handcuffing themselves to the White House fence on November 15, 2010. Farrow explained his motives for this act of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

in an article published in the

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

. Farrow was a board member of

GetEqual GetEQUAL was, from 2010 to 2018, an American non-profit organization and advocacy group which advocates for LGBT social and political equality through confrontational but non-violent direct action. Mission statement GetEQUAL's mission was as fo ...

, an organization dedicated to LGBT rights.

References

External links

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Pulpit speech on ABC News
American Roman Catholic priests Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American LGBT rights activists {{US-activist-stub