Oprah Attends Same-Sex Marriage of Nate Berkus at NY Public Library

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, May 05, 2014

Oprah Winfrey was among the more than 200 guests at the same-sex marriage of TV couple Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, the first gay couple to marry inside the New York Public Library.

Officiating the ceremony, which was attended by 220 guests, was Sheri Salata, the president of Oprah Winfrey Network & Harpo Studios, according to the People magazine.

After the ceremony, the Gospel for Teens/The Mama Foundation for the Arts performed for the guests.

While same-sex marriage has been legal in New York since July 2011, Berkus and Bent are being celebrated by the gay community as the first same-sex couple to marry at the 19th-century landmark.

Berkus, a 42-year design and television host, is a longtime friend of Oprah. He was regularly featured as guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, offering design advice and coordinating surprise make-overs for people's homes.

Berkus and his then partner, Fernando Bengoechea, were at a beach resort in Sri Lanka when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. Bengoechea went missing and was later presumed dead. The Oprah Winfrey Show featured Berkus in January 2005 to talk about his partner.

NBA player Jason Collins appeared in an interview with Oprah and came out as gay last year. "For now, just because there's so much angst, and so much of the unknown with making a decision, a declaration like this, yet trying to also at the same time, yes I'm making a big declaration, but also trying to remain as private in my private life as possible, and I think you, more than most, can attest to, yes you're a public figure, but we have private lives," he said on the show.

At "National Coming Out Day" in 1988, Oprah had members of the studio audience stand up one by one, announcing they were gay.

Oprah also took her show to a West Virginia town that was gripped by an AIDS scare after a homosexual man there was diagnosed with HIV. A swimming pool was allegedly drained after the man had gone swimming. "But I hear this is a God fearing town. Where's all that Christian love and understanding?" Oprah told the viewers.

In January 2012, Pastor Joel Osteen, who is criticized by some for not speaking out on some social issues, said at Oprah's show that homosexuality is sin.

"Will a gay person be accepted into heaven, as you see it?" Oprah asked Osteen. "I believe they will," he replied. "Sometimes we look at gay being a bigger sin than being proud or not telling the truth. I don't think God categorizes sins."

"Does that mean that you're saying that you believe that being gay is a sin?" Oprah asked. "I believe that homosexuality is shown as a sin in the scripture," he responded. "Oprah, it's a hard thing in a sense, because I'm for everybody. I'm not against anybody. I don't think anybody's second class," Osteen added.