Video – Kentucky Church Votes Unanimously To Stop Signing Marriage Licenses Until Gay Marriage Is Legal
Louisville, Kentucky’s Douglass Boulevard Christian Church has taken a major step in the support of gay marriage by voting unanimously to stop signing marriage licenses of heterosexual couples until gay couples can legally marry as well:
As an Open and Affirming Community of Faith (a designation signifying DBCC’s commitment to full acceptance of all people, regardless of race, gender, age, or sexual orientation), our membership is committed to treating homosexuals and heterosexuals equally. Our congregation believes it is unfair to provide different services and benefits to heterosexual couples than we can provide to gay and lesbian couples,” said associate minister Rev. Ryan Kemp-Pappan
Senior minister Rev. Derek Penwell added, “Heterosexual couples enjoy a number of benefits that result from having state-sanctioned union. They may inherit property, adopt children together, visit one another in the hospital, and save thousands each year in taxes by filing as a couple. Ministers, as agents of the state, have the power to confer these benefits-and the imprimatur of normalcy-on heterosexual couples, but we do not have the honor to bestow these benefits on gay and lesbian couples
The Church will still provide wedding ceremonies. But couples will have to be married also in front of a civil official for the marriage to be truly legal.
