The ruling was announced Tuesday by the Louisville, Ky.-based court and overturns a decision last year by a regional judicial committee that found the Rev. Jane Spahr guilty of misconduct and gave her a rebuke — the lightest possible punishment.
The church’s high court found that the ceremonies that Spahr performed were not marriages, so she did not violate the church’s constitution.
Presbyterian ministers are allowed to bless same-sex unions as long as the ceremonies don’t too closely mimic traditional weddings.
Spahr, 65, is a lesbian activist and retired Presbyterian minister from San Rafael.
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly heard Spahr’s case on Friday and deliberated over the weekend.
Spahr, ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1974, has made no secret of marrying gay and lesbian couples, contending it is a matter of principle and conscience.
Church prosecutors said she broke church law, contained in the Presbyterian Church constitution, which defines marriage as “a civil contract between a woman and a man.”
The 2.3-million member Presbyterian Church, a mainstream Protestant denomination, has been sharply divided over homosexuality, including the question of same-sex marriage, for more than 30 years.
