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Policy on Ceremonies Draws Muted Response

Smith is former chair of the now-defunct Gay and Lesbian Network.

Symbolic changes already have occurred in other traditional Harvard institutions. For instance, the Class Notes section of Harvard Magazine-the alumni publication-in its March/April issue this year published a same-sex marriage announcement for the first time.

David K.F. Gillis '89 and Edward J. Finley II were married at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco, the Class of 1989 class notes announced.

Religious Discontent

For members of Harvard's evangelical Christian community, the decision was also expected.

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"In large part, some were saddened, some were disappointed, most were not surprised," said Christian Impact Co-Chair Mary L. Naber '98, who is also a Crimson executive.

"The building called Memorial Church has been moving away from historical Christianity and absolute truth for years," she said.

"I know a lot of people who choose this behavior on campus and I love them like anyone else," she said. "We all have different areas of sin and it is only when we see the brokenness and pain and lonli- ness of it are we willing to look to Christ for forgiveness and love."

But Naber deemphasized the impact of the decision on the Christian community. "We don't look at the University for affirmation but rather to the creator of the universe," she said.

Other leaders in the Christian community also said the believed the impact of the decision was limited.

Miranda O. Yousef '98, leader of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, said "I don't think a lot of Orthodox Christians are particularly aware of this," noting that it would not affect them because the Orthodox Church would not perform a religious rite for a same-sex couple.

She declined to comment on the group's position on the appropriateness of the policy.

The Wheels of Change

At some other American universities, the process toward permitting same-sex commitment ceremonies has been less complex.

Questions about union ceremonies in campus chapels escalated into a debate over the ownership of the University at Emory this year.

And Princeton's administration recently decided that same-sex couples using the chapel could not sign the marriage register. However, Brown University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson said this summer that the ceremonies have taken place in Brown chapels for more than two decades, though no written policy exists.

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