Oklahoma House advances bill for ministers to refuse same-sex marriage
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The Oklahoma House approved legislation that protects ministers who refuse to officiate same sex marriage.
A bill that will allow ministers to refuse to officiate same sex marriage has been approved by the Oklahoma House. Representatives voted 88-7 Thursday for the bill put forward by Republican Representative David Brumbaugh. The measure will now go to the State Senate. The bill grants licensed ministers immunity from any civil claim based on their refusal to recognize a marriage that violates the minister’s “conscience or religious beliefs.”
The news comes after judges in Alabama, where equal marriage has just become law, refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples.The measure has been criticised by LGBT rights groups for being discriminatory. It is assumed that the Supreme Court will soon vote to allow same-sex marriage in every state. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bade Ginsburg said the move wouldn't take a large adjustment.
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The Oklahoma House approved legislation that protects ministers who refuse to officiate same sex marriage.
A bill that will allow ministers to refuse to officiate same sex marriage has been approved by the Oklahoma House. Representatives voted 88-7 Thursday for the bill put forward by Republican Representative David Brumbaugh. The measure will now go to the State Senate. The bill grants licensed ministers immunity from any civil claim based on their refusal to recognize a marriage that violates the minister’s “conscience or religious beliefs.”
The news comes after judges in Alabama, where equal marriage has just become law, refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples.The measure has been criticised by LGBT rights groups for being discriminatory. It is assumed that the Supreme Court will soon vote to allow same-sex marriage in every state. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bade Ginsburg said the move wouldn't take a large adjustment.
I live in Oklahoma and I would support this. Well, actually I don't recognize the authority of the government at all. This would protect a person's rights though. If a person doesn't want to solemnize a marriage, then they don't have to. If a minister refuses to officiate a same-sex marriage then they're (not-surprisingly) shitty. But it's THEIR choice whether or not to do it. For a same-sex couple to try to FORCE them so do something they don't want to do is beyond shitty. That would make the same-sex couple worse than the bigoted minister. People that think they can force other people to cater to THEIR wants are just awful.
I'm actually a licensed minister also. I preformed a same-sex marriage for my friends Oct. 24th, shortly after same-sex marriage was legalized in OK.
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Why don't they allow everyone to discriminate as they please, against anyone they want?!
That's the bigotry of this, as it only applies to gay people being discriminated against.
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Why don't they allow everyone to discriminate as they please, against anyone they want?!
That's the bigotry of this, as it only applies to gay people being discriminated against.
I agree with this. I think any person or business should be allowed to discriminate against any other person or group. If a racist shop owner wants to refuse blacks, it's his shop, he should be able to. If an anti-religious person wants to ban Christians from entering her store, it's her store, she should be able to. And if a bigot wants to refuse service to gays, he should be able to.
The government is terrible. One day it'll fail and the free market will govern itself.
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I kind of get where you're coming from coming from on that point, but I'm not sure that I can completely agree with that. Whether you're in Canada or the USA, you're protected by law from any form of discrimination. Granted, businesses have the right to refuse service to any given customer at their discretion, but when it comes down to refusing service to someone simply because they're gay, black, asian, etc is just not something that I can support. Now that being said, if a business owner, minister, etc refuses service to someone because they're a downright asshole and they're really hard to deal with, then I say by all means, deny service. In my opinion it shouldn't be based on any physical attribute that the person may or may not have, but rather should be based individually on how the person you are offering said product or service to handles the situation, rather than race, colour, sexual orientation, or any other physical attribute they may or may not have.
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I kind of get where you're coming from coming from on that point, but I'm not sure that I can completely agree with that. Whether you're in Canada or the USA, you're protected by law from any form of discrimination. Granted, businesses have the right to refuse service to any given customer at their discretion, but when it comes down to refusing service to someone simply because they're gay, black, asian, etc is just not something that I can support. Now that being said, if a business owner, minister, etc refuses service to someone because they're a downright asshole and they're really hard to deal with, then I say by all means, deny service. In my opinion it shouldn't be based on any physical attribute that the person may or may not have, but rather should be based individually on how the person you are offering said product or service to handles the situation, rather than race, colour, sexual orientation, or any other physical attribute they may or may not have.
Don't get me wrong, because anti-discrimination laws DO exist, they should cover any type of discrimination, including discrimination against someone based on sexuality. But they simply should not exist at all, and one day they won't. However, until that times comes LGBT individuals should receive the same protection from discrimination as one would receive for race or religion.
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I kind of get where you're coming from coming from on that point, but I'm not sure that I can completely agree with that. Whether you're in Canada or the USA, you're protected by law from any form of discrimination. Granted, businesses have the right to refuse service to any given customer at their discretion, but when it comes down to refusing service to someone simply because they're gay, black, asian, etc is just not something that I can support. Now that being said, if a business owner, minister, etc refuses service to someone because they're a downright asshole and they're really hard to deal with, then I say by all means, deny service. In my opinion it shouldn't be based on any physical attribute that the person may or may not have, but rather should be based individually on how the person you are offering said product or service to handles the situation, rather than race, colour, sexual orientation, or any other physical attribute they may or may not have.
Well that is just not true, at least in the United States you're not protected by law from any form of discrimination. And I bet the same holds true in Canada. You are only protected against certain forms of discrimination and only if you fall into certain categories.
Unless a law specifically forbids discrimination then that discrimination is legal. Plus many people will read the laws to their advantage and not on how the law was written.
For example age discrimination is illegal is tossed around when in fact it is not illegal. When hiring you cannot discriminate against some one 40 or older but you can discriminate against some one younger. Judges have ruled and said that the laws were written to protect the older workers and not the younger ones.
As for the gay marriage issue. Should, let's call them businesses, be allowed to refuse service based on religious beliefs. They should be allowed and it is protected under the Constitution. I don't see a issue being raised that Jews can't get married in a Catholic church. And really what is the difference.
Now that is only for businesses, people that work for businesses should not be allowed to discriminate based on religious beliefs. In other words in the business doesn't have a policy against the service then the employees cannot refuse service.
For example of something that was tossed around a Wal-mart employee refusing to make a same sex wedding cake. If Wal-mart doesn't have a policy against it then the employee cannot refuse to make a cake. In Idaho they allowed county clerks to not issue marriage certificates to same sex couples if it went against their religious views. No, they should have no religious views at work unless it is a part of their job. -
Religion and business are 2 completely separate things, at least to me, but not to the US Supreme Court.
I can accept religious "businesses" (ie churches) being allowed to refuse people that violate their faith. HOWEVER, as far as I'm concerned and despite the Supreme Court ruling, businesses should not be allowed to discriminate.
As I pointed out in my previous comment, only gay people are legally allowed to be discriminated against.
You aren't allowed to discriminate against an interracial married couple, even though the bible and many other holy texts say you can't marry outside your own. The bible was used to justify slavery, and still is in many places, based on the "blackness" being the mark of Cain.
That's the problem, every other group is protected except for LGBTs.
