An Ohio judicial board has ruled that judges who perform weddings can't refuse same-sex couples based on personal, moral or religious beliefs. The board also says judges who stop performing all marriages to avoid "marrying" same-sex couples may be interpreted as biased and could be disqualified from any case where "sexual orientation" is an issue.
Yesterday, we linked to an article by Christian News Network which revealed disturbing comments made by T.D. Jakes about the "LGBT community" and the black church. Since then, confusion has arisen in the public sphere as to the accuracy of this article. Jakes himself has claimed that his words were misconstrued. We highly recommend that anyone who is confused about the context of Jakes's comments watch the original Huffington Post interview from end to end. Analyze Jakes's comments about the "LGBT community" and the church coexisting in light of 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?"
A bill introduced this week by Ohio lawmakers has continued the debate over same-sex "marriage". The language of the proposed bill reads that "a business is not required to participate in a ceremony creating a union between two persons of the same sex if such participation violates the business’s right of conscience or freedom of religion."
Megachurch leader and author T.D. Jakes says that homosexuals should attend congregations that affirm their lifestyle and that politics do not need to reflect biblical ethics, adding that his position on homosexuality is both “evolved and evolving.” During an interview with the Huffington Post on Monday, Jakes was asked by a viewer if he believes that homosexuals and the black church can co-exist. “Absolutely… I think it is going to be diverse from church to church. Every church has a different opinion on the issue and every gay person is different,” he replied. “And I think that to speak that the church—the black church, the white church or any kind of church you wanna call it—are all the same, is totally not true.”
The bulk of Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the White House in 2016 emphasized strong support for traditional marriage during both of Thursday’s FOX News presidential debates. But not so with Ohio Gov. John Kasich. When asked what he would tell one of his children if they happened to be "gay," he replied, “Look, I’m an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I’ve also said the court has ruled and I said, ‘We’ll accept it.’ And guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine, who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn’t think the way I do, doesn’t mean I can’t care about them or I can’t love them."
South Carolina shouldn't have to pay legal fees for a couple who challenged its "gay marriage ban" because that state was merely defending its law, the state's top prosecutor argued Wednesday. Judges can order losing parties to pay opponents' fees, especially in civil rights cases. But in papers filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said the state shouldn't have to do so in this case because prosecutors were merely doing their jobs — upholding the law as it stood before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its marriage opinion in late June.
The two sets of winning attorneys in South Carolina’s landmark marriage redefinition lawsuits want a total of $244,338 in legal fees for their victories in federal court over Attorney General Alan Wilson and Gov. Nikki Haley. That money apparently will come from taxpayers, although the two federal judges in the cases have not yet issued final orders for Haley and Wilson to pay the lawyers. “The attorney general’s office objects to paying legal fees in these cases, and we will continue to object,” a spokesman for Wilson said Tuesday.
Washington County Probate Judge Nick Williams is urging the state's high court to issue a "landmark" ruling challenging the U.S. Supreme Court's attempt to redefine marriage. And he wants Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had earlier recused himself because of his outspoken stance for real marriage, to be able to vote on it.
Last month Apple clambered aboard the newest corporate bandwagon, joining other Internet Age corporate giants such as Google and Facebook, older companies such as General Mills, American Airlines, Dow Chemicals and Levi Strauss and hundreds of lesser enterprises in throwing their support behind the 2015 Equality Act, a piece of radical legislation that would ban discrimination based on “sexual orientation or gender identity."
A judge has recognized a 2001 same-sex union as a common-law "marriage" in Pennsylvania, even though one partner died long before the Supreme Court attempted to redefine marriage. This has left family lawyers across the state buzzing about the potential implications.
Some Ohio judges say they don’t have to officiate same-sex "weddings," or any weddings for that matter. Toledo Municipal Court Judge C. Allen McConnell refused to "marry" a same-sex couple earlier this month, saying he declined because of “his personal and Christian beliefs established over many years.” He planned to continue “traditional marriages,” but the presiding judge took over all marriage ceremonies. McConnell has asked the Ohio Supreme Court’s board of professional conduct to clarify if he must perform same-sex "marriages."
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A state lawmaker is ready to introduce legislation, if need be, to stop marriage licenses from being issued across the state, because of the Supreme Court's attempt to redefine marriage. “If we don’t stand up and say no to these five Supreme Court Justices, we no longer have a constitutional republic; we are an oligarchy,” Rick Womick (R), of Rutherford County said. Womick said the state constitution backs him. “Under no circumstance will any law, public policy or judicial interpretation propitiating that marriage is anything other than one man and one woman will be enforceable in Tennessee,” he said. “It will be void, and that’s verbatim out of the Constitution.”
The government of Rowan County, Kentucky, has denied any liability for the actions of its county clerk, who stopped issuing marriage licences this summer after the Supreme Court attempted to redefine marriage. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and the county are being sued by two same-sex and two opposite-sex couples who were recently denied marriage licenses by Davis’ office. But in a court Wednesday, the county government argues that the clerk “performs a state function and does not act on behalf of, or set policy for, the County.”
MEXICO CITY, July 29, 2015 – Tens of thousands took to the streets of major Mexican cities under the slogan “Mexico is One for the Children,” to ask the government to respect state constitutions that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, after a recent Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex unions. Several other cities will march for the same cause on August 15.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says religious colleges that don't accept "gay marriage" aren't at immediate risk of losing their tax-exempt status. When asked whether he could pledge that he would not "take any action to remove the tax-exempt status from religious colleges and universities based on their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman," Koskinen said, "I can make that commitment."
The Boy Scouts of America on Monday ended its ban on openly homosexual adult leaders. But the new policy allows church-sponsored units to choose local unit leaders who share their precepts, even if that means restricting such positions to heterosexual men. The Boy Scouts’ national executive board, composed of 71 civic, corporate and church leaders, adopted the changes with 79 percent of those who participated in a telephone meeting voting in favor, according to an announcement issued by the Scouts.
MONTGOMERY, AL (July 28, 2015) – Sanctity of Marriage Alabama, a grassroots organization based in Montgomery, urged the Alabama Supreme Court Tuesday to uphold their order from 3 March 2015 that halted same-sex "marriage" in Alabama.
NASHVILLE - A Tennessee lawmaker has sent a letter to all 95 county clerks in Tennessee urging them to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. State Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, said the governor and attorney general are intimidating county clerks to issue the licenses.
A Southern Indiana woman is suing after she was fired for refusing to process same-sex couples’ applications for marriage licenses because of her “sincerely held” religious beliefs. Linda Summers, a former clerk's office employee in Harrison County, filed the lawsuit last week against the county and County Clerk Sally Whitis in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in New Albany.
MONTGOMERY, AL: The Foundation for Moral Law, a Montgomery-based legal foundation that defends the right to acknowledge God and the duty to interpret the Constitution as written, says a local case involving "same-sex marriage" is not over, because the issue of retroactivity has not yet been decided. The Foundation is opposing Paul Hard, who is trying to collect a spousal share of his dead homosexual partner's estate.
Democrats plan to unveil an expansive anti-discrimination bill that would force businesses to provide employment, housing and education to people who identify as homosexual or transgender. The bill, which Democrats say will be introduced in the Senate and House, would extend "protections" granted under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to "LGBT people." It's been less than a month since the Supreme Court attempted to redefine marriage, and we're already moving towards forced commerce.
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — At least nine Alabama counties are refusing to issue marriage licenses to any couples, homosexual or heterosexual, nearly a month after the Supreme Court attempted to redefine marriage, according to a survey by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Two Alabama counties said they will now issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court's decision. The probate judges of Houston and Henry counties have reopened marriage license operations and will issue licenses to anyone. The change came at the end of a 25-day window in which the U.S. Supreme Court could have reconsidered its decision.
At least three mainline Protestant denominations have celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s attempt to redefine marriage, and others say they are divided on the issue. “By and large, [mainline denominations] have been more liberal than the culture in compromising their sexual standards before the country itself compromised its laws on marriage,” said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Average church members in mainline denominations, Tooley said, are “close to where the nation is as a whole” on "gay marriage," but the “governing bodies” of those denominations are “certainly much more liberal than the country is.”
MONTGOMERY — Two conservative groups that sued to stop same-sex "weddings" earlier this year have urged the Alabama Supreme Court to resist the U.S Supreme Court's attempt to redefine marriage. In a court filing, the Alabama Policy Institute and the Alabama Citizens Action Program urged justices to resist the "gay marriage" ruling the same way courts in other states resisted pro-slavery laws in the 1850s, saying there is “precedent for the highest court of a state to reject a U.S. Supreme Court mandate which is unlawful.”
Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University have added “sexual orientation” to their nondiscrimination policies, opening the door for the schools to hire staff and faculty who are in same-sex relationships. Eleven years ago, Eastern Mennonite fired two professors over homosexual behavior, but in 2013, it became the first of the 120 CCCU schools to allow tenure-track faculty to pursue same-sex relationships essentially without censure.