Buckley Jeppson (second from left) is facing excommunication from the Mormon Church for marrying his partner, Michael Kessler (second from right). They are flanked by Kessler’s parents, Joseph and Phyllis Kessler, at their 2004 wedding in Toronto.
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KATHERINE VOLIN
Friday, March 31, 2006
When Buck Jeppson married Mike Kessler in Toronto on August 27, 2004, neither of them imagined the happy nuptials would lead to media attention and excommunication.
The couple, who live in Washington, D.C., decided to get married in Canada after registering as domestic partners in the District.
"Marriage is different," Jeppson, 57, says. "It’s a demonstration to others as well as to ourselves that we took our relationship seriously enough to go through the effort."
Jeppson, a life-long Mormon, has practiced at a local temple since he moved to D.C. eight years ago.
"I wasn’t hiding or anything," Jeppson says about his sexual orientation. "No one has ever bothered me until now, so it’s kind of odd."
He and Kessler, 48, say they often interacted socially with other Mormons as a couple.
Jeppson’s temple in Columbia Heights recently underwent a leadership change, which led to officials asking Jeppson to resign his membership or risk excommunication.
"After my first conversation with the new leader, he kicked it upstairs to [Nolan] Archibald," Jeppson says.
Archibald is the Washington, D.C. Stake President for the Church of Latter-Day Saints, a position that is comparable to that of an Episcopal Bishop, Jeppson says.
Jeppson says Archibald, the leader of all the LDS temples within D.C., asked him to resign his membership from LDS.
Jeppson says, he refused to resign his membership.
"I felt like by resigning my membership, I would be saying all these things I grew up with and believe in and the ethical framework for which I lived my life didn’t exist," Jeppson says. "I wasn’t willing to say that."
JEPPSON WAS BORN in Utah but grew up in Southern California. Prior to entering a relationship with Kessler in 1997, Jeppson was married to a woman for 27 years.
His Mormon family members are a significant factor in his decision to remain in the church, Jeppson says, because he didn’t want his granddaughter to think he took the easy way out and abandoned his faith.
Archibald has called a disciplinary council to discuss Jeppson’s fate within the church.
"It ends up ultimately being his choice, what happens within the Mormon church," Jeppson says. "The disciplinary council is just a formality because the decision is really his."
Homosexuality is not considered a sin within the LDS church, but homosexual behavior is, according to Olin Thomas, executive director of Affirmation, a gay Mormon group.
"They think you’re confused, but they don’t think you’re a sinner," Thomas says about the church leadership’s response to gay members.
A church spokesperson says that Archibald cannot comment on the private conversations between a minister and a congregant and, when asked for comment, sent the Blade a statement about homosexuality written in 1998 by church president Gordon B. Hinckley.
"People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians," the statement says. "My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God.-They may have certain inclinations which are powerful and which may be difficult to control. If they do not act upon these inclinations, then they can go forward as do all other members of the Church.-If they violate the law of chastity and the moral standards of the Church, then they are subject to the discipline of the Church, just as others are."-
Jeppson’s case has triggered a strong reaction from some Mormons.
"This really sticks in the craw of us Mormons because the Church for years had hid behind this really clever argument," Thomas says. According to Thomas, the church claimed that sex was only sanctioned within a marriage, so if gay Mormons couldn’t get married, they couldn’t have sex.
"They’re trying to appear as though they’re not changing their tune," Thomas says about the church’s response to Jeppson.
Mormons have begun responding to Jeppson’s case, his husband says.
"There have been hundreds of posts on [Mormon] blogs," Kessler, who is Jewish, says. "Whether or not it’s in Buckley’s favor is not my concern as much as the fact that they’re thinking about it. They haven’t just tossed it aside."
Brecken Chinn Swartz, coordinator of the Safe Space Coalition, a group formed in 2004 primarily by straight members of LDS to protect the rights of gay Mormons, says that support for gay Mormons is growing in the church.
"It’s amazing how many members there are who want to see gay members able to take the sacrament," Swartz says. "I think the church is becoming more accepting, but the leadership is not quite in step with the membership."
Despite the activism that Jeppson’s case may have instigated, he says he does not seek to change church doctrine.
"[Archibald] believes my sole motivation is to embarrass the church, but I just want to worship in peace," Jeppson says.
Jeppson and Thomas doubt that the disciplinary council, which will likely meet in late April or early May, will allow Jeppson to retain his church membership.
"There’s a remote possibility that it could just sort of fade away, which was my request, but I think enough has happened and enough press has happened that Archibald’s pretty mad and is determined to go ahead [with excommunication]." Jeppson says.
Even if his membership is revoked, Jeppson says his faith will be unaffected.
"None of that will change," Jeppson says. "I won’t suddenly stop believing in or become bitter or anything like that."
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