The United Church of Christ is joining the national debate on the future of gay marriage in a novel way: The church filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying Amendment One violates the church’s constitutional guarantee to freedom of religion.
According to the church, this is likely the first challenge by a national Christian denomination of a state’s gay marriage ban.
Amendment One, the church argues, makes it a crime for its clergy to officiate a marriage between two people of the same sex. That, the church argues, puts a limit on the church’s exercise of religion.
“It is unfortunate that, even today, laws are designed to treat gay and lesbian people unequally,” the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, the church’s general minister and president said in a statement. “In its efforts to restrict gay marriage, the State of North Carolina has restricted one of the essential freedoms of our ministers and of all Americans.”
As The New York Times reports, this case is one of about 70 working their way through different states. Most of them, however, have been argued based on the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Proponents of North Carolina’s ban on gay marriage dismissed the lawsuit.
“This is sadly, and predictably, the ‘lawsuit of the week’ filed by those who want to impose same-sex marriage on North Carolina, in spite of the fact that 61 percent of the voters passed the Marriage Amendment two years ago,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition, said in a statement.
She went on:
“It’s both ironic and sad that an entire religious denomination and its clergy who purport holding to Christian teachings on marriage would look to the courts to justify their errant beliefs. These individuals are simply revisionists that distort the teaching of Scripture to justify sexual revolution, not marital sanctity.”
The United Church of Christ has recognized gay marriage since 2005. It ordained an openly gay man in 1972.
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Charlotte.
People from across the country are looking for ways to help families of the 10 people killed at a King Soopers in Boulder on March 22.
We've compiled a list of area groups that are collecting contributions in the aftermath of the shooting.
In July, we published this statement in recognition of the work we needed to begin at CPR to confront issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in our newsroom and organization as a whole.
We know this work is urgent, and we are dedicated to doing it thoroughly and connecting it with our vision and mission to reach all and serve everyone in Colorado.
Here is an update on our progress over the last eight months.
It takes a good day’s drive to cover Colorado, but we’ll help you do it in a few minutes each morning. The Lookout daily email brings you a closer look at the issues that affect you with a rundown of important fact-based reporting — with a side of Colorado flavor.