Gay pastor to marry boyfriend

Gay pastor to marry boyfriend

Rev Ou Yang Wen Feng, a Malaysian gay pastor, is tying the knot with his African-American partner.

The couple is likely to wed by the end of this month or early September with ceremonies planned in New York and Malaysia.

Ou Yang saidhis partner - a Broadway musical producer - had popped the question on June 26, two days after New York City legalised same-sex marriages.

"He went to a church and wrote a song for me. He proposed at the end of the song in public," the 41-year-old told AFP in an interview in Hong Kong.

Ou Yang, who now serves at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in New York, urged gay men and women to speak outand help fight misconceptions about the gay community.

According to the MCC homepage, the church is part of an international movement of Christian churches reaching out to all, including homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals.

"When society discriminates against gay people, you only push gay people into the closet," said Ou Yang, a former columnist with Sin Chew Daily.

Ou Yang made public his sexual orientation in 2006 after divorcing his wife of nine years.

"She asked for a divorce and this is the biggest gift she could ever give me, she set me free. I owe her big time," said the pastor who grew up in a conservative Christian family.

Source: AFP
Published Aug 8 2011