As cognitive decline began to alter who Diane Norelius was, her adult daughters and her boyfriend wound up in a bitter dispute over which version of her should get to decide what she wanted.
Rev. Dr. Larry Sonner waited about a week to turn himself in.
The Methodist minister had married a lesbian couple the weekend before, in October 2014, going against the Protestant church’s doctrine. Other ministers had done so in the past, but they kept the unions quiet and the ceremonies secret.
Larry saw a problem with their silence.
If Methodists wanted to call themselves “inclusive,” he asked,
how could they deny LGBTQ people the right to marry in their faith?
On one hand, disobeying church rules could lead to grave consequences. He could lose health benefits. He could lose his standing as a minister. He could lose his pension, putting his and his wife Sue’s entire retirement at risk.