BY JAMES NICHOLS
Huffington Post Gay Voices
After 60 years of active involvement with their Tennessee church, a family is facing exile from their religious community because their daughter fought to pass legislation offering benefits to same-sex couples in the town where she worked as a law enforcement official. Police detective Kat Cooper, who married her wife Krista in Maryland earlier this year, led the initiative that resulted in Collegedale, Tenn., becoming the first city in the state to extended family benefits to same-sex couples, according to Spectrum Magazine. The bill passed in early August after months of effort on the part of Cooper, spawned largely by the denial of health coverage for her wife despite their legal status as a married couple in states where same-sex marriage is legal.
However, the celebrations surrounding Cooper and her wife’s legal victory were short-lived. Following a Sunday morning service, leaders at the family’s regular place of worship, the Ridgedale Church of Christ, asked to meet with members of Cooper’s family, including her mother who stood by her side. At this meeting, church officials reportedly gave the family two options: Publicly repent for their sins in front of the church’s congregation and ask for God’s forgiveness — or leave the church.
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