Tennessee Freemasons meeting this week
in Nashville voted to keep a ban on gay members.
According to The
Tennessean, two unidentified Freemasons confirmed the results
of the vote.
The vote comes just months after two
Masons – Dennis Clark and Mark Henderson of Somerville – came
out gay and got married. The couple (pictured at their wedding) was
suspended from the secretive organization.
Author Christopher Hodapp, who writes
about the fraternal organization, called the ban “sad.”
“It's a sad situation for all of us
because we hate to see this kind of disharmony going on in the
organization,” Hodapp told the paper. “We're supposed to be
helping each other as brothers and not engaging in fights like this.
This is the last thing that should be going on.”
Tennessee has roughly 30,000
Freemasons.