By
The Associated Press
PHOENIX - House and Senate leaders said Friday they will not appoint a chaplain, a position formerly held by a gay clergyman who stirred controversy when he announced his sexual orientation last year.
Instead, the Senate will keep the former chaplain's office open and make it available to visiting clergy members invited by lawmakers to attend their spiritual needs, Senate President Randall Gnant told The Associated Press.
"It's a sad day," Rev. Charles Coppinger, the former chaplain, said as he cleaned out his office on the second floor of the Old Capitol. "But it wasn't a day that came as any surprise."
Gnant, a Scottsdale Republican who became Senate president this month, said he did not decide against appointing a chaplain because of Coppinger's sexual orientation.
Rather, Gnant said, the change represents a compromise between the desires of some senators to have a chaplain and others who do not want one.
The speaker said the position became a "lightning rod" after Coppinger disclosed he was gay, and then it was learned that he had stolen $14,000 from an employer 14 years ago and that there was an unpaid bill for prayer luncheons organized by Coppinger.
Coppinger was originally appointed by conservative republicans who preceded Gnant in office. Conservatives were some of his strongest supporters, based in part on a shared religious view that homosexuality was contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
Coppinger stunned lawmakers in October by announcing he is gay. The action immediately cast doubt on his ministry's future at the legislature while adding a new voice to gay rights issues at the Capitol.
"The moment I said I was gay, it became very divisive," Coppinger said. "We're going to hear a lot of reasons why the chaplaincy was eliminated. All that is a smoke screen."
