North Carolina Gay Marriage Ban Protested By Gay Ministers

As the battle over same-sex marriage continues to cause tensions around the country, a group of ministers and their supporters are launching a protest Monday afternoon in favor of marriage equality in North Carolina.

After the state legislature voted last month to put a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban same-sex marriage on the state's 2012 election ballot, gay couples will line up on Monday at the Buncombe County Register of Deeds Office in Asheville, N.C., to request marriage licenses. Those requests will be denied, as marriage is in the state is currently legally defined as being between a man and a woman. The amendment that the couples are protesting would enshrine that definition in the state's constitution.

The Rev. Kathryn Cartledge and Elizabeth Eve, her partner of 30 years, will be the first to request a marriage license on Monday. They'll be joined by several supporters, including clergy and politicians from Asheville. Cartledge and Eve said that they plan to re-request a marriage license in the coming days after Monday's denied request.

"I have lived an authentic life," said Cartledge, a United Church of Christ minister, "and I am convinced that only love can change the heart of someone who thinks I am less than equal."

The protest, which will continue through Oct. 14, is organized by the Campaign for Southern Equality.

In the heated debate over same-sex marriage, which has been banned by constitutional amendment in several states and legalized in a handful of others, religious groups have played a strong role both for and against marriage equality measures. In New York, which legalized same-sex marriage this summer, Roman Catholic bishops were unsuccessful in their attempts to convince Catholic legislators to vote against the legalization of gay marriage. In Maryland, a similar bill died in March because it did not have enough support, with some legislators citing church opposition as one of the reasons they did not support it. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Roman Catholic who has clashed with the denomination's leadership over the issue, has said he will make it a priority to legalize same-sex marriage next year.

In North Carolina, Cartledge will lead an interfaith blessing of LGBT families and clergy with the Rev. Joe Hoffman, another United Church of Christ minister, during the 13-day protest.

"For me, this is an act of faith, of saying that we are all equal in God's eyes, and we who believe this must live that truth. We who are allies must support our LGBT friends as they act with great courage, and we must struggle alongside them until our laws catch up with reality. And we will treat those who oppose us with respect and empathy while at the same time not allowing injustice to go unchallenged. This is what I understand the way of Jesus to be," said Hoffman.

More information on the Campaign for Southern Equality's "We Do" campaign is available here.

Comments

[WheelsOnFire]

12:04 AM on 10/06/2011

IF NC thinks unequal rights is a good and just way to run this country, let's try this.

Put NC's rights to a vote by the other 49 states.

Specifically, let's put the following on a national ballot.

1. Should NC be denied access to money from the federal government? Yes No

2. Should NC residents be required to pay a 20% federal income tax surtax simply because they chose to live in NC? (The money will be used to reduce the deficit and provide food, shelter and medical assistance to the unemployed.) Yes No

Let's put their rights to a vote. If 25 states receive more than 50% YES votes, that becomes the law of the land.

[bannorhill]

08:21 PM on 10/06/2011

The NC definition of marriage matches the Federal definition. So I guess you think we should also:

1) Deny access to Federal money for everyone in the US.

2) Add a 20% federal income tax surtax for everyone in the country.

The US Supreme court has allowed the definition of marriage as "a man and a woman" to stand.

[gator52]

10:00 PM on 10/05/2011

A sick generation. The wacked out gays way of thinking, surpasses all understanding. I guess pedofiles have the same right to marry a 12 year old.

[cwebster]

11:33 PM on 10/05/2011

Don't even try that tired old chestnut.
Marriage is a contract. Only a consenting ADULT can enter into a contract of marriage.

[WheelsOnFire]

11:58 PM on 10/05/2011

Nearly all pedophiles are straight, and most are a family member.

Let's see some proof of "wacked out gays way of thinking" -- or are you simply spouting empty comments?

[thebearclaw007]

03:41 PM on 10/05/2011

Reading the comments and the controversy surrounding this issue, it's obvious many Americans don't believe in equal rights for all Americans. I see the gay rights issue as another saga in American history that demonstrates how Americans do not learn from American history and how some do not even believe in the Constitution which professes to give equal rights to and representation to all Americans. It would be more appropriate to say Americans believe in the struggle and demonstration for equal rights and the eventual earning of equal rights. Remember the slaves? Women's suffrage? African American civil rights demonstrations? etc, etc, etc? The fact that gay citizens must fight for their rights prove Americans have not learned from the past and are, therefore, being tested once again, and Americans will continue to be tested until they get it right. I wonder what God will come up with next to test the validity and sincerity of American laws, and the heart of American people?

[wfc22]

01:40 PM on 10/05/2011

And yet NC is one of those 25 states + DC where you can marry your first cousin...

[lacrosselamore]

04:42 PM on 10/05/2011

It is also legal for a 50 year old men to marry a 16 year old girl if mom and uncle/daddy say so.

[mflorian]

08:32 AM on 10/05/2011

"'I have lived an authentic life,' said Cartledge, a United Church of Christ minister, 'and I am convinced that only love can change the heart of someone who thinks I am less than equal.'"

If someone thinks you're less than equal, they may not have a heart to change.

[WheelsOnFire]

12:34 AM on 10/05/2011

Here's a good example why people should not get the right to vote on other people's rights in this country.

A recent poll in Mississippi found that 46% of Republicans there believe that interracial marriage should be banned. Only 40% support it.

That's right -- Republicans in Mississippi want to bring back segregation when it comes to blacks and whites marrying.

This matter was decided by the Supreme Court in 1967, in a decision that found laws prohibiting interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. The Court found that such laws violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

But, Constitution be darned, the Republicans don't want blacks and whites marrying each other. So, should we roll back the clock and bring back laws barring interracial marriage?

That's what would happen if this issue were put to a vote.

And that outcome would violate the Constitution.

[lacrosselamore]

04:45 PM on 10/05/2011

A recent poll in Mississipp­i found that 46% of Republican­s there believe that interracia­l marriage should be banned. Only 40% support it.

I'd love to see it put up for a vote. Perhaps that is what it will take for our African American friends to stop voting with the bigots. Perhaps it would catch the atttention of our "fierce advocate `gag` POTUS.

[Elle Shepard]

10:02 PM on 10/04/2011

Deep sigh here.. I haven't figured out how so many people have so much time on their hands to contemplate this issue at all. At the risk of repeating myself, I can't figure out how this affects ANYONE but the parties involved.

Are there bands of "Same Sex Marriage Monitor Squads" roaming the the neighborhoods looking for same sex couples to arrest or stone, are they waiting outside JP's offices, chapels and churches waiting to lill or maim the officials ands ministers who join these folks in matrimony? Will they set traps in restaurants, public toilets and shopping malls to trap unwitting same sex married couples into displaying some bizarre behavior in front of their children? I mean really ...?

What is this about.. If it's because it's against their religion, then why don't they just have huge prayer rallies in their churches and pray it all away? I have never heard of anything so silly - like any of these people are ever going to rub shoulders or invite each other over for dinner...

[WheelsOnFire]

12:09 AM on 10/05/2011

Some people have a need to hate others different from themselves. It usually arises from low self-esteem -- they seek to increase it by taking it from others. This is from the resource theory of social exchange first proposed by U.G. Foa and E.B. Foa back in the 1970s.

You're right, though, in noting that allowing gay couples to marry will have zero effect on existing or future hetero marriages.

Just ask an anti-gay-marriage protester to explain how allowing a gay couple to marry will have such a deleterious effect on their marriage that gay marriages must be banned, and all you'll get back is a blank stare.

Gay couples already live together in our society and go about their lives just as married hetero couples do. Providing those gay couples with a marriage license won't change how they live in our cities and towns. It will, however, grant them equality with hetero couples. It is that equality that threatens some hetero couples, for they will lose their marriage esteem if gays acquire that same right.

[Elle Shepard]

10:53 AM on 10/05/2011

Thanks for putting an even clearer addendum to my post! Thanks for having an open mind and a wise heart! and Thanks for the Fanning.. - I fanned you in return... not because you fanned me - but because you are right!

[cwebster]

08:24 PM on 10/04/2011

Anyone opposed to equal marriage...can you give me one single, solitary, intelligent and rational reason to deny it?

Just one?

One teeny one?

[Balancement]

08:48 PM on 10/04/2011

And "God says so," and "It's *icky!*" are not intelligent or rational reasons.

[Atwill]

09:22 PM on 10/04/2011

Better not give homophobes a chance to choose an teeny one. they might pick their brain or sex organ.

[cwebster]

10:18 PM on 10/04/2011

Ah, but those are not intelligent reasons:)

[Balancement]

12:21 PM on 10/05/2011

Given the I.Q. level of the anti-gay crowd, they're more likely to just stand there, jaw-aslack, and pick their nose.

[Vincent Truman]

08:02 PM on 10/04/2011

Good on them for standing up, but they should realize the primary source of anti-gay sentiment is the club which they freely joined.

[cwebster]

10:19 PM on 10/04/2011

Not all churches are homophobic.

[Watching rock grow]

07:10 PM on 10/04/2011

Good luck, and safe protest:)

[TeraWatt60]

07:00 PM on 10/04/2011

Phony "studies" and bullchit derived from false assumptions then called "evidence" by the religiosity crowd does not make gay marriage "controversial" any more than their silly pronouncements about evolution being a "theory"

[Dr steve bart]

02:41 AM on 10/05/2011

I think everyone agrees evolution is a theory the question is how good a theory

[TBJ]

09:48 AM on 10/05/2011

Evolution is a fact. That hasn't been a debatable point for decades now.

How it happens, the theory of evolution, is currently incomplete, but is still very well thought out and documented.

The only reason that there's still a controversy is because too many people don't know what the definition of a scientific theory is, and take it to mean that evolution isn't a fact.

[TeraWatt60]

10:07 AM on 10/05/2011

a settled theory that has been proven over and over. Except for the ones who think it is "controversial" because they say so...

[iLdoRight]

06:37 PM on 10/04/2011

If you are "Sick of Bigotry", try some "Littleotry", it is better for you anyway, I hear. Ooops, sorry that was another lie, I sometimes want to be like almost everyone else.

[Balancement]

08:22 PM on 10/04/2011

Keep your day job.

[lacrosselamore]

04:49 PM on 10/05/2011

I doubt it has one.

[TXanimal]

04:36 PM on 10/04/2011

Probably because not every denomination reads the Bible the same way...there are multiple translations and revisions available. Not every Christian (regardless of sexual orientation) believes that homosexuality and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Not every Christian views the Bible with the same amount of credibility or perception of importance.

[Michael73501]

11:42 PM on 10/04/2011

TX - valid points, but...

There are laws of hermeneutics and interpretation that should guide and set boundaries to what can be derived from scripture. Groups like UCoC are so far out there that...well...there is no question that they have left all Biblical validity behind to seek and have what they want to have.

[WhatTheHolyHeck]

06:28 PM on 10/04/2011

Homos? What are you, ten?

[Michael73501]

11:32 PM on 10/04/2011

Merely an abbreviation....get over it.

[Bob Wood]

02:59 PM on 10/04/2011

Any two Homo Sapiens...who wish to join their lives together...should be free to do so. It should be their right...simply because they choose to do so. There are benefits which all married couples receive just for saying " I Do "...and those benefits should apply to all Homo Sapiens who make the choice. Millions of LGBT people will benefit...no one will be harmed. All opposition to same-sex marriage is emotional...and not based on any factual reason.
This should be a non-issue in the 21st century. Please...let reason prevail...(sigh)

[Michael73501]

03:42 PM on 10/04/2011

Read a few studies about the LGBT life style and you may not be so blankly inclined to say that "no one will be harmed". There is just more to be considered than your Rodney King type, "feel good" passiveness.

[TXanimal]

04:33 PM on 10/04/2011

Links and/or sources, please.

[mercury613]

04:34 PM on 10/04/2011

And which studies would those be, exactly?

[aviandonn]

08:58 PM on 10/04/2011

And if people pairing up and agreeing to care for, and assume responsibility for each other is good for society, which is, after all, why all societies encourage marriage, then getting more people to do that can only be even more beneficial.

[playsindirt]

11:39 AM on 10/04/2011

Maybe they finally asked themselves "what would Jesus do?"