Frank Schaefer

Franklyn "Frank" Schaefer is a German-American author and an LGBTQ advocate.He was formerly an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

Schaefer established a popular Internet site for the support of Christian educators and ministers, a forum for the discussion and exchange of resources, called Desperate Preacher's Site, in 1996.

In 2013, he was tried by a United Methodist court for officiating at his son's same-sex marriage. He was defrocked on December 19, 2013, when he refused to uphold the Book of Discipline in its entirety, which would have meant to denounce same-sex marriage rights.

Following his defrocking, Schaefer became a speaker and activist. Although he was reinstated by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals on June 26, 2014 (which was upheld by the Judicial Council on October 25, 2014), he continues to advocate for human rights while also working in a new United Methodist parish in Isla Vista, California.