This happened a number of years ago, but for our first case study, I want to raise again the case of Dennis Clark and Mark Henderson, Freemasons under the Grand Lodge of Tennessee who were expelled from their Lodge after posting wedding photos online.
The story is widely known, but in case you did not know, here are the facts:
Clark, a corporate leadership trainer, and Henderson, a deputy sheriff, were members of Park Avenue Lodge No. 362. They posted photos of their wedding on Facebook. Clark and Henderson were subsequently charged by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee for violating that jurisdiction’s penal code, according to which Tennessee Freemasons cannot, “engage in lewd conduct. To promote or engage in homosexual activity. To cohabit immorally in a situation without the benefit of marriage.”
For more information, read the following news article:
Although the universal lessons of Freemasonry have absolutely nothing to say about homosexuality or gay marriage, the Grand Lodge of Tennessee engaged in homophobic discrimination against these two Masons. We at Stop Masonic Discrimination stand with Brothers Clark and Henderson, and condemn the Grand Lodge of Tennessee for its unbrotherly and un-Masonic conduct.