Oct 30th, 2009
Posted by Chris Hampton, LGBT Project at 4:39pm	LGBT Relationships

Haunted by Claims that Churches Will Be Required to Perform Same-Sex Weddings? Don't Be.

Jim Nieves and Lisa Panensky of Elmsford, New York, had been planning a costumed Halloween theme wedding at the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow for over a year. But when they recently contacted the church to request that the organist play music from The Addams Family and The Munsters at the ceremony, the pastor backed out. Saying his church is no place for a “costume party,” he told the couple they couldn’t have their wedding there after all.

Nieves and Panensky are now scrambling to find a location for their wedding and say they may just have it at home. While we wish them well and hope their wedding plans work out okay, their situation brings to mind the big lie anti-gay activists tell when they say that if same-sex couples are allowed to marry, then churches will be forced to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. Churches don’t have to marry anyone they don’t want to. That’s guaranteed by the Constitution.

I personally think the Old Dutch Church missed out on a heck of a fun wedding, and so do churches that refuse to perform ceremonies for same-sex couples. But nobody is going to force any church to perform any wedding ceremony it doesn’t want to, and trying to scare the public by saying so is creepy, kooky, and altogether ooky.

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1. Darax Says:
   Nov 2nd, 2009 at 9:07pm

   Who knows, when the government decides whats right and whats wrong, Churches might not have the decision.

2. roald Says:
   Nov 3rd, 2009 at 1:30pm

   Darax, why are you so concerned about what might happen, despite assurances and legal precedent to the contrary, and ignore what actually is happening - the church deciding what is right and wrong for the State?

3. Steve Says:
   Nov 7th, 2009 at 12:53pm

   I don't believe a word of it. The far-left is well known for it's intolerance of views they disagree with. Ask any conservative or christian speaker at any university campus of how tolerant rank and file ACLU members are of them when they attempt to speak in their auditoriums and such. What is spoken in the public forums and what is whispered in the back-rooms of any ACLU board-meeting is entirely two different things. The majority of those sitting in the leadership of this organization follow the philosophies laid out in the communist manifesto. When the governments of these nations came to power, the citizens were told there would be greater freedom for the people if marxist were put in power. It was all a lie. The ACLU has the same vision for those they oppose in this nation.

4. GS Says:
   Nov 9th, 2009 at 1:27pm

   People marry each other, contractually, and the ring is the offering and seals the deal when accepted.
   Family, friends, ministers/priests in churches are
   witnesses.

5. Anonymous Says:
   Nov 10th, 2009 at 9:09am

   a lot of talking about nothing..
   casino