Ken Hutcherson Officiates at Rush Limbaugh’s Fourth Traditional Marriage

In 2004, Pastor Ken Hutcherson organised a “Mayday for Marriage“, to defend “traditional” marriage against homosexuality; in 2007, the Daily Telegraph described him as

An advocate of a “biblical stance” against divorce and homosexuality.

According to this site, meanwhile:

Hutcherson said that in the past year [2004], he’d censured five members of the church, including some for ending marriages without just cause.

However, he’s prepared to take a rather more relaxed view when it comes to powerful conservative ideologues with whom he is friendly; Joe Lambiet notes:

The preacher who signed [Rush] Limbaugh’s and wife Kathryn Rogers‘ marriage license, Washington State-based mega-church boss Ken Hutcherson, is an internationally known critic of the gay rights who believes that many of the world’s ills stem from homosexuality.

Limbaugh bragged about his fourth wedding as he returned to his show today, calling the nuptials a perfect moment in the best weekend of his life.

The certificate also shows that one of the witnesses was his brother David, who is more closely associated with the Christian Right.

A guide to Limbaugh’s previous marriages can be seen here. It appears that his first two marriages were ended by his wives, while his third wife had been married previously; perhaps, therefore, there is some fundamentalist legalism which allows Hutcherson to officiate without offending against his strict “Biblical stance” in favour of traditional marriage. Limbaugh’s previous traditional marriage had been officiated over by Clarence Thomas.

I blogged on Hutcherson previously here; in 2007 he visited Latvia with anti-gay activist Scott Lively, where they made links with a militant anti-gay pastor named Alexei Ledyaev (Lively has also been active in Uganda). Hutcherson is known for making statements on homosexuality in which – for some reason we can can only speculate on – he feels the need to assert aggressively his own masculinity; one sermon quote is particularly well-known:

On a Sunday…Hutcherson was preaching on gender roles. During his sermon, Hutcherson stated, “God hates soft men” and “God hates effeminate men.” Hutcherson went on to say, “If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I’d rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end.”

Somewhat bizarrely, Limbaugh’s wedding ceremony with Hutcherson was followed by a reception at which Elton John was the hired performer; the singer has since come under criticism for agreeing to take part.

(Hat tip: RightWingWatch)