To condemn gay marriage prohibition, clergy refuse to marry straight couples.

[ohiosmith]

The Wedding Crashers: Local churches protest same-sex marriage ban
By Jeff Severns Guntzel


David Anger, who had his union with longtime partner Jim Broberg blessed at First Congregational Church in 1991, says the time has come to force the issue. "There can't be a gay door and a straight door," he argues.

On Sundays, the Saint Paul-Reformation Church often holds informal soup and bread gatherings to discuss congregation business. It was at one of these meetings about two years ago that Jim McGowan, a member for more than two decades, proposed that the church stop marrying straight couples.

The church had long welcomed members of all sexual orientations—they had even bucked local Lutheran leadership and ordained a lesbian pastor. But McGowan, a straight man, nonetheless saw a subtle form of discrimination. If the church couldn't legally marry gay couples, he argued, it shouldn't marry straight ones either.

None of the 50 or so people present in the basement that Sunday stood up to contradict McGowan's proposition. So today, Saint Paul-Reformation is in the process of enacting a church ban on what he calls "the state's business" of civil unions.

If the congregation does vote to abstain from civil marriage duties, the church will still perform ceremonies for both straight and same-sex couples. The only difference will be that heterosexual couples will have to take the extra step of seeking out a judge to make their nuptials legal.

more: http://articles.citypages.com/2007-11-21/news/the-wedding-crashers/

[terrya]

1. Good.

That's a perfect way to illustrate the bigotry behind this.