When Phelps first arrived at Highland Baptist in 1997, he said there was a don’t ask, don’t tell policy regarding gays. The following year, a gay couple’s photograph appeared in the church directory, and slowly the church began to openly welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members and dedicate their children, he said. In 2012, it ordained an openly gay minister, the Rev. Maurice “Bojangles” Blanchard, who leads a gay ministry at the church.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — They have lived together for five years. They have a garden and a dog. They have a joint bank account. But only recently did they have the right to be married at their church.

David Bannister Jr., 29, and Steven Carr, 25, are to be married next May at Highland Baptist Church, which will break with most churches in its denomination by performing its first gay marriage ceremony.

“It takes courage to step out into the unknown,” said Pastor Joe Phelps, who was approached by Bannister and Carr about the ceremony 2 1/2 years ago. “It’s taking us courage to be one of the first churches to do this.”

As state law stands, the marriage will not be recognized by the state of Kentucky, which is appealing court rulings overturning its ban on gay marriage and requiring it to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The judge stayed the decision, halting any legal gay marriages for now.

The church’s decision “may influence the debate,” said Sam Marcosson, a law professor at the University of Louisville.

“What Highland is really doing is what churches do on important issues,” he said. “They’re taking a stand in order to influence their community and move their community in a certain direction.”

The church’s move is part of a trend toward gay marriage across the country.

Besides recent court decisions on the matter, the Presbyterian Church of the USA in June voted to allow pastors in its congregations to perform same-sex marriages. In recent years, the Episcopal Church began blessing same-sex unions and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided to allow ministers to perform gay marriages if they choose.

The decisions did not come without some consternation, however, and that was true for Highland Baptist. The church’s decision has irked some members, who have been upset over the process in which the decision was reached — and made public — as well as the decision itself.

“There are a very small number in the church” who are upset, Phelps said. “And to their credit, they have stayed with the church through all of this.”

Reaching its decision

Highland Baptist, which has about 1,200 congregants and integrates women into its leadership, already falls on the more liberal end of the denomination’s spectrum.

It left the conservative Southern Baptist Convention — the world’s largest Baptist denomination — about 20 years ago. The church has done the same with other affiliations because of theological differences, Phelps said. Highland is now affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship.

It will become one of the first Baptist churches in the area to perform same-sex marriages.

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