STATE OF THE UNIONS

North Carolina Church Won’t Marry Straight Couples Until Gays Can Wed

green-street-family

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?

 

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