How Prop 8 Affects More Than Californians
When California briefly legalized same-sex marriage last year, it wasn’t just California residents hitting up county clerks offices. In Nevada, gay couples were crossing the border for their own marriage licenses. It’s these heartwarming stories of the happily married — and not the politics, the religious he-said-she-said, the conservative vs. progressive arguments — that we should all be taking cues from.
The Rev. Dave Krueger-Duncan has performed one legal marriage in the seven years he has been a religious leader in Las Vegas.
That was on July 18, 2008, for Julie Liebo and Charlotte Morgan, members of his Northwest Community Church.
The Christian congregation is “open and affirming” to gay and lesbian couples. Morgan said that means “our church is way beyond acceptance. There is no separation between our family and (a heterosexual family). There is simply not a difference.”
It’s hard to find that in any church in America, Liebo said, but they found it in Las Vegas, though they had to get legally married in California.
“I pray for the day when I can do legal weddings here in Las Vegas for gay and lesbian couples as well as straight couples,” Krueger-Duncan said. “Until that day comes, what I can’t do for one I’m disinclined to do for the other.”
That day came, briefly.
Krueger-Duncan married Liebo and Morgan in Long Beach, Calif., after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages last year. The couple played John Lennon’s “Imagine” during the ceremony.
More at the Las Vegas Sun.
Sadly & Gladly, each marriage and rights decision has effects beyond the borders of the state where it happens. I just got an email from FairnessWV on the West Virginia Employment and Non-Discrimination Act that passed the state Senate and stalled in the house:
“We made one last try yesterday, but after careful consideration and consultation with our allies, we have to face the reality that our bill will not be voted on in the House of Delegates this year. A combination of factors, including, ironically, the good news out of Iowa, has made the current political situation very difficult.”