Ping. This was our old church, 4CJ.
Kudos to your old church!
... only to say no when his obituary listed a life partner.
That's at odds with what I read/heard on AFR, and from my friend ;o) The church already KNEW he had a partner. Some of the pictures submitted were too graphic. No church could condone such and consider itself Christian.
Pictures? Did the story mention that Rev. Gary Simons and the church had been in prayer over the man for over 6 years? Or that a member of the church staff was at the hospital ministering to the family? That the church volunteered to host the memorial service, to feed over 100 guests, and create a multimedia presentation of photos of the man and his life? I didn't think so.