Mark Stringer
From Philosopedia
Mark Stringer (26 February 1967 - )
Stringer, a native of Akron, Ohio, graduated from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and holds and MA degree in theatre from Bowling Green State University and a BA degree in theatre and English from Ashland University.
Prior to becoming a minister, he taught English composition at Chicago State University and speech at Ashland University, worked as a proofreader for Warner Books in New York City, performed in national tours as a professional actor, and facilitated diversity training workshops sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League.
In May of 2001, Stringer was called as the minister of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines.
He has been an active leader in the central-Iowa Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy) and is a board member of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, an organization he chaired from 2004-2007. He received the UUA’s 2007 Westwood Grant, an award that “goes to a UU minister who has shown an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in congregational leadership over a period of five years.” Some of his sermons have been published in the UUA’s Church of the Larger Fellowship publication Quest and on the website of the Human Rights Campaign.
Since 2003, Stringer has served as treasurer of the Prairie Star District UU Minister’s Association since 2003. He resides in Des Moines with his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Leah.
Iowa's first legal same-sex wedding
Jane Greer, writing in UU World (9/7/07), described Stringer's being the first minister to conduct Iowa's legal same-sex wedding,
- When the Rev. Mark Stringer finished scraping paint in his bathroom at 3 a.m. on Friday August 31, little did he know that he would be a national celebrity by noon. Stringer, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, conducted the first—and so far, only—legal same-sex marriage in Iowa later that morning. The marriage of Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan happened during an hours-long window of time between a ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Polk County, Iowa, and a stay that immediately halted the proceedings.
- Same-sex marriage is not yet legal in Iowa. However, on Thursday, August 30 Polk County Judge Robert Hanson ruled that the state’s Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional in a suit brought by six same-sex couples. In response to pressure from Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, Hanson stayed his ruling the following day.
- When the ruling came down Thursday, same-sex couples mobilized to get marriage licenses while they could. McQuillan and Fritz were at the Des Moines courthouse bright and early Friday morning and obtained the license. By paying an extra five dollars and getting a waiver signed by a judge, they were able to skip the normally required three-day waiting period. Then, they were off in search of a minister.
- At 10 a.m., Stringer received the call. “I told them I would meet them at noon at the church,” Stringer told UU World in a phone interview. “I wanted to get myself organized and take a shower.” He recognized immediately, however, the importance of the event and wasn’t surprised when McQuillan and Fritz called back five minutes later asking whether they could advance the ceremony. Within 15 minutes the couple arrived with a handful of family and friends—and a phalanx of reporters.
- “I couldn’t even find a dress shirt,” said Stringer, who is in the process of readying his house for sale. So he threw a ministerial stole over a polo shirt and went out to conduct the wedding on his front lawn. “I hardly remember what I said,” he added, although a video of the ceremony is available at WHO, a local Des Moines TV station. After signing the marriage certificate, McQuillan and Fritz, along with their entourage, left to file the certificate at the courthouse. They were the only pair out of 20 couples to return with a signed license before the stay took effect.
- Stringer stressed that such quick weddings are not normally the way he conducts business. However, as a marriage equality activist, he knew that this was not the average wedding. “I knew that I owed it to those couples who didn’t have that piece of paper. Any one of my UU colleagues, I’m sure, would have done the same. I’m so proud to serve in this movement.”
- So far the emails that Stringer has received have been overwhelmingly positive, he said.
- “I told the couple that I would be happy to conduct another ceremony for them at a later date, and they told me that they’d like to do that in the summer of 2008,” he said. The pair attended a service on September 2 at the Des Moines church where they received a standing ovation.
- Stringer is enjoying his time in the spotlight and using it to advance the cause of marriage equality and Unitarian Universalism. “All of a sudden we’ve got a national audience for the Unitarian Universalist cause,” he said. “It’s such a gift!”
- “I’ve lived in Chicago and New York. And it’s really great to say, ‘you’ve got to catch up to Des Moines!’ "
A ruling by a judge in the Polk County District Court, Robert Hanson, stopped the practice immediately, however. Polk County appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
On 3 April 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in a unanimous and emphatic decision that made Iowa the third state - preceded by Massachusetts and Connecticut - to allow same-sex couples to wed.
