20 years ago, homosexuality wasn't as accepted as it is, today. So, I could see even a Unitarian minister from a couple of decades back not being comfortable with it.
This was, to give you an idea of the times, the first superhero comic series to use the word "gay" to describe sexual orientation. Before, there had been characters who were gay, but it was never said in the text. In one of Byrne's Superman issues, we even had Clark thinking about wrong it is that Maggie Sawyer's being harassed "because she's..," then being distracted before he can finish the thought.
Then, in Perez's first WW Annual, we had Mindi's brother say "She was the only one in the family who didn't hate me for being gay." It was like "WHOA! They actually used the G word!" It really was that big a deal.