From TwinCities.com:

Is this the last story someone writes about a gay pastor in Minnesota?

Obadiah Ballinger hopes so.

He has just been hired by a church in St. Paul Park and would much rather talk about preaching than about his sexual orientation.

Gay clergy have become less of a novelty, with many state churches hiring homosexual pastors. But Ballinger's hiring — and the long process the church went through to hire him — is still a sign of a widening rift among area churches over the issue of homosexuality.

While some churches want to ban gay clergy, the Community United Church of Christ is going the other direction — hiring a male pastor who is married to another man.

"The congregation welcomed me with open arms," said Ballinger, 27, who was installed as pastor Jan. 23.

It's his first job as a pastor. He graduated from Yale Divinity School, where he met his future husband. They were legally married in Connecticut in May.

Ballinger is winning over the few skeptics left in the church. The first sign was a classic symbol of Minnesota-style repentance — home-baked cookies.

"A woman who said she originally voted against me brought me them," Ballinger said.

The issue of gays in the pulpit has roiled different denominations in different ways.

Churches in Afton and Lakeville took steps to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after it voted in August to permit churches to hire gay clergy in "committed relationships."

Some Episcopal churches are considering splitting from the main church over the issue of homosexuality, and there is wide disagreement among Baptists and Presbyterians.

The United Church of Christ has been in the vanguard of gay acceptance.