#nc amendment 1

[justinspoliticalcorner]

For years, conservative media figures have attacked marriage equality by citing "religious liberty" concerns, baselessly warning that churches might be forced to perform same-sex weddings against their will. But a new lawsuit in North Carolina challenges the right-wing media's commitment to religious freedom when it's not being used as an excuse for anti-gay discrimination.  

On April 28, the United Church of Christ (UCC), a progressive Protestant denomination that supports marriage equality, filed suit in Federal District Court challenging North Carolina's ban on clergy blessings of same-sex unions. Under the state's 2012 same-sex marriage ban, it's a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 45 days in jail, to perform a ceremony for any couple lacking a valid marriage license. The UCC argues that the ban infringes on clergy members' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion:

"We didn't bring this lawsuit to make others conform to our beliefs, but to vindicate the right of all faiths to freely exercise their religious practices," said Donald C. Clark Jr., general counsel of the United Church of Christ.

The lawsuit represents the inverse of a long-standing (and entirely baseless) conservative horror story about marriage equality - that churches will be forced to perform same-sex weddings against their will.

This myth has been perpetuated by conservative media personalities like Fox's Todd Starnes, who in 2012 warned that a Kansas non-discrimination ordinance "would force churches to host gay weddings":

When the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro claimed that churches would lose their tax exempt status if they failed to perform same-sex weddings. Fox contributor Erick Erickson has gone so far as to claim "gay marriage and religious freedom are incompatible."  And Fox News' longstanding campaign to depict marriage equality and anti-discrimination laws as burdens on religious liberty inspired a rash of so-called "religious freedom" bills across the country earlier this year.

 Given social conservatives' self-appointed role as guardians of religious freedom, the North Carolina case would seem ripe for their attention.

But now that religious liberty is being invoked to oppose a gay marriage ban, will right-wing media rush to tout the cause of a pro-equality church?

Conservatives who rushed to defend "religious liberty" legislation like Arizona SB 1062 have so far been silent on the case. The New York Times' Ross Douthat, who penned a column supporting Arizona's bill on religious liberty grounds, has yet to comment on the UCC case on his blog. A TV Eyes search shows that Fox News - which regularly features segments titled "The Fight for Faith" - hasn't taken up the UCC's mantle. The same goes for anti-gay conservatives like Starnes, Shapiro, and Erickson.

While civil marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples would have no bearing on churches' doctrines and practices, laws like North Carolina's actively restrict religious denominations' right to freely exercise their faith. If serving a cake to a same-sex couple constitutes an unconscionable violation of religious liberty, then surely a law telling churches which unions they can and can't bless does. But the right's crusade against LGBT equality has almost nothing to do with genuine, intellectually consistent support for religious liberty, and everything to do with keeping discrimination enshrined in law.

Too often in conservative media, religious liberty becomes a shield to deflect accusations of bigotry, even while justifying blatant anti-LGBT discrimination. UCC's lawsuit, and conservative media's interest in taking it up as a cause célèbre, will test whether the right's interest in religious liberty is anything more than a shallow excuse for homophobia.

METHDOLOGY

Equality Matters searched TV Eyes for the terms "gay," "United Church of Christ," and "North Carolina" for Fox's programming on April 28 and the morning of April 29, 2014.

h/t: Luke Brinker at MMFA 

mediamattersforamerica

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sign the petition to repeal North Carolina's discriminatory Amendment 1. #FreeReligion

PETITION LINK, via The Petition Site:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/685/598/730/?cid=FB_TAF

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Defending True Religious Liberty: Church Files Lawsuit in Support of Marriage Equality

This morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United Church of Christ filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. This suit argues that the current law in North Carolina, as it pertains to marriage, violates religious freedom by prohibiting UCC ministers, and other clergy, from officiating at same-sex marriages.

After the passage of Amendment One in 2012, it became illegal for a member of the clergy to officiate at a wedding where a marriage license is not present. And, of course, in North Carolina, it is impossible for a same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license. That means that any member of the clergy who officiates at a same-sex marriage in the state may be sentenced to "120 days in jail and/or probation and community service."

In other words, the state of North Carolina is telling clergy that it is illegal to pray in the manner in which they see fit.

For those of us who are people of faith, marriage is more than just a civil ceremony. It is also a religious one. And under the current law, even if a member of the clergy is only intending to perform a religious ritual, and not to legally marry a same-sex couple, they could be arrested.

The United Church of Christ, along with several other Christian denominations as well as other religious traditions, has long advocated for equal marriage. In 2005, the denomination passed a resolution which affirmed, "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and declares that government should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of legally recognized marriage."

That means that for the 1 million plus members of the UCC, and especially the members of over 150 UCC churches in North Carolina, state law is requiring them to choose between what is religiously permissible in their denomination and what is legally permissible in their state. In other words, North Carolina state law is making it a crime for some Christians to freely exercise their religion.

We often hear that religious liberty is under attack in our country. Often the fact that same-sex couples are allowed to marry is cited as evidence of this attack. But, as this law makes clear, the religious liberty of same-sex couples and their officiating clergy is what is truly being blatantly attacked. This should outrage anyone who claims to believe in religious freedom.

There are couples in North Carolina who are waiting to be able to legally and religiously marry. There are many clergy who are standing by ready to officiate at their weddings. And there is a law that is stopping them.

Today, the United Church of Christ, along with plaintiffs which include three UCC ministers, two Unitarian Universalist clergy, one Lutheran pastor, one Baptist minister, and one rabbi, as well as the eight extraordinarily courageous and faithful couples they seek to marry, are taking a stand for religious freedom in North Carolina. They are standing up for true religious liberty. And they are saying it is no longer acceptable to oppress the religious rights of all in the name of the religious preferences of the few.

May God bless them, and may God bless North Carolina with true religious freedom.

h/t: Rev. Emily C. Heath at HuffPost Religion

[postindrevo]

ROSA PARKS' BUS.

[dailymementos]

The Times They Are a Changin'

I woke up this morning, as many of my NC friends also did, with a heavy heart.

Honestly, it's hard to put into words how I feel about it but the fact that 61% of NC Voters voted out of hate, ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry is beyond dissapointing.

However, the fight isn't over...it's just beginning.  And I just hope implore each and every person to really take time to educate themselves and those around them.

As a woman, I wouldn't have been able to vote prior to 1920.  African Americans weren't granted the right to vote until 1965.  

The point is, exercise your right to vote, don't take it for granted.  BUT also exercise your right to educate yourself and really push yourself to question issues of human rights and morality.  If we continue to live in world full of hate and non-acceptance, then what kind of world are we leaving for our children and our children's children. 

As quoted from the famous Bob Dylan song The Times They Are A Changin':

"The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin' And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'."

[genericoriginality]

the passing of nc amendment one...what "family" are we protecting?

needless to say i am disappointed about the results of the election yesterday. it's sad that people will simply stop reading after they hear the word "gay". this amendment will affect so many more people, not just people of the lgbtq community. this amendment was advertised as the "marriage amendment" and that we should be protecting north carolina families. but what families? the nuclear husband, wife, 2 kids family? there are so many more families than that: single mother, single father, two mothers, two fathers, etc. if people really wanted to protect families and had all children's interests in mind, they would have not passed this amendment. they would have voted AGAINST it. how do people not see this? i just can't get over how close minded people are... i just hope that everyone else knows that not all of north carolina feels this way, there are so many of us here that are open minded and loving. now we just have a lot more work to do in equal rights, but we won't give up, that's for sure.

[twoheadedboy1945]

‎ "One day they came and they took the communists, And I said nothing because I was not a communist. Then one day they came and they took the people of the Jewish faith, And I said nothing because I had no faith left. One day they came and they took the unionists, And I said nothing because I was not a unionist. One day they burned down the Catholic churches. And I said nothing because I was born a Protestant. Then one day they came and they took me. And I could say nothing because I was as guilty as they were, For not speaking out and saying that all men have a right to freedom on any land... ...and I say the only way we can avoid this is to look and speak out now, and Don't Let It Happen Here."

-Charles Mingus, "Don't Let It Happen Here", 1965. A variation on Pastor Martin Niemöller's "First They Came..."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

BREAKING: North Carolina passes discriminatory Amendment 1

BREAKING: North Carolina's highly discriminatory and homophobic Amendment 1 will pass. #NC1 #Amendment1 #NCAmendment1 #NorthCarolina

— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) May 9, 2012