Frank Schaefer (minister) should not be confused with Frank Schaeffer.
| Frank Schaefer | |
| Birth Name: | Franklyn Schaefer |
| Birth Date: | December 7, 1961 |
Franklyn "Frank" Schaefer (born December 7, 1961) is a German-American author and an LGBTQ advocate. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.
Schaefer established a popular Internet site for the support of Christian educators and ministers, a forum for the discussion and exchange of resources, called Desperate Preacher's Site, in 1996.[1]
In 2013, he was tried by a United Methodist court for officiating at his son's same-sex marriage. He was defrocked on December 19, 2013, when he refused to uphold the Book of Discipline in its entirety, which would have meant to denounce same-sex marriage rights.[2] He was reinstated by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals on June 26, 2014. The restoration was upheld by the Judicial Council on October 25, 2014.)[3] [4]
While defrocked, Schaefer became a speaker and activist. He continues to advocate for human rights while also working in a new United Methodist parish in Isla Vista, California.
Schaefer has been interviewed on the TV shows Good Morning America, The View, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Anderson Cooper 360°, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, and TakePart Live, and for the documentary An Act of Love.[5]