A Methodist church in North Carolina is putting a moratorium on heterosexual weddings until its clergy can wed same-sex couples.
Until North Carolina’s ban on marriage equality is lifted, the Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem is asking ministers only to perform “relationship blessings” rather than full marriage ceremonies. It also wants the United Methodist Church to open the rite to gay couples, according to Equality North Carolina.
The 300-member church, which includes more than a dozen same-sex couples, is the only reconciling congregation in the western North Carolina Conference, church leaders explained in a statement.
Because the United Methodist Church prohibits its pastors from conducting same- sex weddings, excluding gay and lesbian couples from the holy sacrament of marriage, the Leadership Council has asked the pastor to refrain from conducting wedding ceremonies in our sanctuary for straight couples, until the denomination lifts its ban for same-sex couples.
With a growing number of LGBTQ members, Green Street seeks to be a public witness to its community, conference and denomination.
Is limiting access to marriage for all the way to highlight the injustice of North Carolina’s marriage-equality ban? Or do two wrongs not make a right?
Speak up in the comments section below!
Charles175
An act of protest is never a component of two wrongs being made into a right. Protesting is an act of attempting to make right what is obviously wrong. When the wrong is made right, then the protest comes to an end.
Kieran
Good luck to them. North Carolina ranks right up there with Uganda and Iran as far as gay rights are concerned.
Derek Williams
How amazing! Thanks to the United Methodists for their heartfelt support. I hope the straight couples won’t be kept waiting too long!
kevininbuffalo
An empty gesture, the straight couples will just go down the street to whoever. But it gets the church some free PR.
Derek Williams
@kevininbuffalo: How can Gay PR be Good PR for this church, in North Caroline of all places?.
As for your estimation that their gesture is “empty”, do I take it that you want to keep them as our mortal enemy?
DarkZephyr
@kevininbuffalo: Empty gesture?? You must not have a clue how important the specifics of faith are for the various denominations of Christians. It is NOT so simple a matter as just going down the street, for God’s sake.
Dakotahgeo
In North Carolina, as in other southern states, injustice = regional stupidity. These people are just… dense!
macmantoo
The more supporting gay marriages and gay rights the better off gays are. We (gays) have came a long ways in my life time. I can remember going to gay bars and had to behave myself so I wouldn’t get arrested by the LAPD Vice Squad. I’m hoping before I die that gay marriage will be allowed everywhere in these United States.
SamiJ
Well, here’s the thing, imo.
I have yet to hear arguments against same-sex marriage that aren’t based in religious objections.
However, religion should not be the subject of legislation.
Accordingly, if “marriage” is a religious term, and therefore religious objections to including same-sex couples in the institution are relevant, then the state has no business making any judgement on marriage at all.
Which means that the *legal* union, as recognised by the government, should be civil union for all couples, hetero- or homo-, and whether you’re “married” or not is between you and *your* church.
Billysees
@Derek Williams: 3
Beautiful comment Derek —
” How amazing! Thanks to the United Methodists for their heartfelt support. I hope the straight couples won’t be kept waiting too long! ”
I grew up in the United Methodist Church and know first-hand what a great bunch of warm-spirited and friendly folks they are, including my mom and dad and brother.
Here’s another good example of this also — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman
Scroll down the right column and check out his church or religion.
Cheer…
Derek Williams
@SamiJ: It is not the church, but the state which provides ‘Marriage’, in fact a marriage in a church is not legal until the couple sign the Register. Those who are not religious can bypass the religious bit altogether and go straight to their local Registry Office and get married there, but it’s still a marriage, and it’s still in the eyes of the state.
Yanissala
Homosexual marriage has nothing to do with rights, and EVERYTHING to do with changing the society completely.
Homosexuals, in essence, want to shoe horn themselves into a place in which they never belonged to begin with. It is actually CHANGING the entire fabric of society, which is EXACTLY what the people who are pushing for this want…
=> The saddest part about this is that since common people are natural followers, the majority of homosexuals and some supposed “well thinking heads” are just going along with what the “Progressive” leaders say, acting as a pawn to further “Progressivism”. Homosexuals want to ‘be treated as normal’ (Never going to happen even when homosexual marriage is legalized), and progressives USE THEM to further their end. It’s disastrous and evil to do that.
? THESE FELLOWS ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY SOMETHING BIGGER THAN THEM, ACTING TO ACHIEVE ITS HIDDEN AGENDA: DESTRUCTION OF THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY AS IT TO CREATE MORE CHAOS ON EARTH!
=====
Even if you remove the religious argument against same sex relationships, there is still a logical argument against it.
=> Nature never intended for same sex relationships as is clearly evident when one observes the reproductive functions of the homosapien.
=> A male cannot procreate with a male, nor can a female procreate with a female. If we were all homosexuals, then the procreation process would be halted. The continuation of the human race cannot occur when men are with men and women with women.
=> Not only is such behavior immoral, it is unnatural and therefore those who practice homosexuality are abominations to nature. PERIOD!
Derek Williams
@Yanissala: Something is only immoral if it harms somebody else. Why do you want homosexuals to marry only heterosexuals? What straight woman in her right mind is ever going to want to marry a gay man who has neither romantic nor sexual interest in her, when she could have a heterosexual man who is head over heels in love with her?
If marriage is only for reproduction as you argue, then you are saying that if a married couple wish to have 3 children, then they should have sex three times, or at least as many times as is necessary until the desired number of children have been reproduced. After that, according to you, sex is no longer necessary, and should therefore cease. I suggest you get out a bit more into the real world. People have sex with other people mostly for pleasure, very little of it has to do with procreation. If you were to pop out a baby every time you had sex, then the world over-population would be even worse than it already is at 7 billion, 4.6 billion of whom have been born since I was born.
The percentage of gay people in the world is at least 5% (based on 4% openly gay at US Census exit polls 2004, 2008 and 2012 plus a very conservative 1% for those still in the closet). Apply that to 7 billion and you have 350 million homosexuals, all of whom should become heterosexuals according to you, and start making even more babies, according to you.
As for something being “normal”, that is a red herring. Homosexuality will never be normal in the sense that it will always be a minority for obvious reasons, but neither is left-handedness normal, on the same grounds, because almost everyone is right-handed. Same goes for genius. Most people are not geniuses nor are they left-handed – so would you mistreat left-handed geniuses because they are not “normal” too?
Finally as regards your allegation that I am “unnatural”, I invite you to study the following links that show over 1,500 species in nature where homosexuality has been observed, alongside an information sheet from the American Psychological Association explain a few facts to plug the gaping holes in your knowledge on the subject of my sexuality:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx
Billysees
@Derek Williams: 13
You’ve written a very satisfactory presentation of sound minded reasoning.
More of this is needed to correct inclinations towards fear and misunderstanding.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, there is neither gay nor straight; for you are all one in Christ Jesus………Galatians 3:28………paraphrase mine