San Francisco's former United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert gave a sermon at the denomination's global conference last year, urging pastors to defy church law by performing same-sex wedding ceremonies.
On Saturday, Talbert answered that call himself, performing a ceremony for parishioners Bobby Prince and Joe Openshaw near Birmingham, Ala.
Church leaders predict that Talbert's action will aggravate a conflict between conservative and liberal factions of the United Methodist Church - one of the last mainline Protestant denominations that bans same-sex marriage....