Identical Pastor Protection Acts introduced this legislative session by Soldotna Sen. Peter Micciche (SB120) and Healy Rep. Dave Talerico (HB236) would do the following three things generally covered by the First Amendment but not spelled out in statute:
Affirm the rights of clergy, rabbis and religious congregations to decline participation in same-sex marriages
Ensure that neither clergy nor religious congregations must provide services or accommodation for same-sex marriages
Protect clergy and religious congregations from any criminal or civil liability for refusing to perform or offer services or accommodations for same-sex marriages
A similar bill was signed into law last June in Texas, has passed the House in Florida and is moving toward Governor desks in Georgia, Tennessee and other states.
Why this bill? It specifies religious freedom rights implied, but not spelled out, in current statute. Today’s legal and cultural environment is absolutely different than in times past. Additional protections are justified and should be welcomed. Even Texas Equality, an LGBT advocacy group, supported the Pastor Protection Act in that state.
Is this bill necessary? Definitely. First Amendment Freedoms are under attack. LGBT advocates have been successful in framing their argument as discrimination. Religious freedom and sexual freedom are pitted against each other on many levels in today’s culture. This law levels the playing field to a certain degree.
Examples abound as to why this bill is justified:
Anchorage Assembly members recently forced a sexual orientation, gender identity, non-discrimination ordinance upon residents that prevents faith-based schools, churches and other religious organizations from making their own hiring decisions.
Officials in Idaho threatened to punish a senior citizen couple – both ordained pastors – if they declined to officiate same-sex ceremonies.
A proposed national Equality Act seeks to “authoritatively set the morals of a community.” This makes the state the arbitrator of morality, not a person’s conscience.
The ACLU recently decided to withdraw its support from religious freedom laws to support ‘same-sex’ marriage.
The Cincinnati City Council recently passed an ordinance banning mental health professionals (including pastors who are licensed) from counseling people experiencing unwanted, same-sex attraction. A pastor reports threats of fines of up to $73,000 per year for using Scripture to counsel youth.
In other countries, LGBT pressures reveal a disturbing erosion of freedom of speech, association, and religion.
A gay couple in the UK sued the Church of England to force the church to perform a same-sex wedding less than two weeks after England passed its gay ‘marriage’ bill.
Canadian Dawn Stefanowicz is one of six adult children of gay parents who filed an amicus brief with US Supreme Court prior to the Obergefell decision. She warns of the sharp decline in freedoms since same-sex marriage was federally mandated in Canada in 2005. Human Rights Commissions and Tribunals can prosecute against discriminatory “hate speech”- written or spoken. The government pays all the plaintiff’s legal fees, but does not reimburse the defendant even if found innocent.
SB120 and HB236 are both sensible measures needed now to keep Alaska pluralistic. Allowing everyone to live their lives consistent with their deeply held convictions is something we should all get behind.
A couple who hosts occasional wedding ceremonies on their New York farm have lost an appeal to overturn the $13,000 in fines levied against them by the state’s human rights agency, which ruled that their refusal to host a wedding for two women was discriminatory.
On Jan. 14, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, upheld the agency’s order and the fines, a decision the Alliance Defending Freedom – which represented Robert and Cynthia Gifford – said amounted to confirming, “that the government can punish the Giffords for declining to coordinate a ceremony that conflicts with their conscience.”
The couple lives in a barn they built on their farm and have occasionally hosted weddings on the first floor and the surrounding backyard area, according to ADF.
“After the agency ruled that the Giffords were guilty of ‘sexual orientation discrimination,’ it fined them $10,000, plus $3,000 in damages and ordered them to implement re-education training classes designed to contradict the couple’s religious beliefs about marriage,” a press release issued following the court decision stated.
In order to comply with the order, the couple will have to attend those “re-training” classes or have a “trainer” come to them, according to ADF. (Read more from “NY Court: Farmers to Be Re-Educated, Pay Fines for Not Hosting Homosexual Wedding” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2016-01-26 23:43:402016-04-11 10:53:25NY Court: Farmers to Be Re-Educated, Pay Fines for Not Hosting Homosexual Wedding
Children of same-sex couples will not be able to join the Mormon Church until they turn 18 — and only if they move out of their parents’ homes, disavow all same-sex relationships and receive approval from the church’s top leadership as part of a new policy adopted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In addition, Mormons in same-sex marriages will be considered apostates and ordered to undergo church disciplinary hearings that could lead to excommunication, a more rigid approach than the church has taken in the past.
The new policies are an effort by the church, which has long opposed same-sex marriage, to reinforce and even harden its doctrinal boundaries for its members at a time when small but increasing numbers of Mormons are coming out as gay or supportive of same-sex marriage.
At the same time, the church has recently been taking a tolerant public stance supportive of laws that ban discrimination against gay people in employment and housing. Since the Supreme Court established a right to same-sex marriage nationwide in June, Mormon leaders have parted company with the leaders of evangelical and other conservative churches by affirming that despite their religious convictions, even people of faith opposed to gay marriage must follow the law.
“The church is walking a fine line between on the one hand recognizing the reality of changing mores in American society externally, but internally holding the line on its own doctrinal rigor — its own beliefs and teachings,” said David Campbell, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a co-author of “Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics.” (Read more from “Mormons Sharpen Stand Against Same-Sex Marriage” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-11-08 22:57:592016-04-11 10:56:24Mormons Sharpen Stand Against Same-Sex Marriage
Before states across the country began striking down bans on same-sex marriage and the Supreme Court ultimately decided the issue nationwide, some gay couples used adoption laws as a way to gain legal recognition as a family, and the related benefits such as inheritance and hospital visitation rights.
Nino Esposito, a retired teacher, adopted his partner Roland “Drew” Bosee, a former freelance and technical writer, in 2012, after more than 40 years of being a couple.
Now, they’re trying to undo the adoption to get married and a state trial court judge has rejected their request, saying his ability to annul adoptions is generally limited to instances of fraud . . .
The adoption “gave us the most legitimate thing available to us” at the time, said Bosee, 68.
The adoption process Bosee and Esposito went through was not uncommon. Although it is difficult to gather hard numbers, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, a group supporting the couple, says it learned that many couples in states across the country lawfully took advantage of adoption laws in order to protect their relationships. Now these couples seek to marry, but first they must confront state adoption laws that provide no easy path to annulment. (Read more from “Disgusting: Father Seeks Right to Marry Adopted Son” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-11-04 01:06:452016-04-11 10:56:33Disgusting: Father Seeks Right to Marry Adopted Son
By MICHELE RICHINICK. After being jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses, Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis returned to work on Monday morning with the same message: She won’t authorize the legal documents to same-sex couples.
Speaking before 8 a.m. ET, Davis said she will continue to defy the U.S. Supreme Court by not issuing gay marriage licenses, because otherwise she would be going against her religious beliefs. “For me, this would be an act of disobedience to my god,” she told reporters.
She did, however, leave it open for her deputies to continue issuing the legal documents to same-sex couples, as long as her name and title don’t appear on the licenses. None of the licenses, Davis said, “will be authorized by me.” Instead, the documents will read, “pursuant to a federal court order,” she said. (Read more about Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis’s defiance HERE)
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Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis Goes Back to Work
By Tribune News Service. A Kentucky county clerk announced Monday that she would not interfere with her office granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, ending, for now, a confrontation that put her behind bars for five days for defying a federal judge.
As she returning to her office Monday, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis read a statement saying she would not interfere with her deputies issuing the licenses, but would not personally authorize any marriage licenses to any same-sex couples.
“I don’t want to have this conflict. I don’t want to be in the spotlight. And I certainly don’t want to be a whipping post,” Davis said during televised remarks. “I am no hero. I’m just a person that’s been transformed by the grace of God, who wants to work, be with my family. I just want to serve my neighbors quietly without violating my conscience.”
District Judge David L. Bunning earlier this month surprised many by sending Davis to jail for contempt after she failed to follow his order to issue marriage licenses to all couples, including gays.
On Sept. 8, the judge found that her deputies had issued the licenses, so the contempt citation was cleared and Davis was let out of jail with a sharp warning that if she interfered in the issuance of the licenses, she would be returned to a cell. (Read more from “Kentucky County Clerk Goes Back to Work for the First Time Since Jail” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-15 00:21:302015-09-15 00:21:30Kentucky County Clerk Continues to Defy Supreme Court on First Day Back at Work
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is to be released from jail in Grayson, Kentucky, a judge ordered today, nearly a week after Davis was jailed for refusing a judge’s order to issue marriage licenses, including to same-sex couples.
“After remanding Defendant Davis to the custody of the U.S. Marshal, five of her six deputy clerks stated under oath that they would comply with the Court’s Order and issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples,” an order issued by U.S. District Judge David Bunning said.
“On September 8, 2015, Plaintiffs filed a Status Report at the Court’s behest. According to the Report, Plaintiffs have obtained marriage licenses from the Rowan County Clerk’s Office,” the order noted. “The Court is therefore satisfied that the clerk’s office is fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.”
Over the weekend, Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis, filed an appeal of Bunning’s contempt order with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Today, Liberty Counsel filed an emergency motion to have Davis released from jail.
“She can never recover the past six days of her life spent in an isolated jail cell, where she was incarcerated like a common criminal because of her conscience and religious convictions,” Davis’ attorney, Mat Staver, said in a statement today. “She is now free to return to her family, her coworkers and the office where she has faithfully served for the past 27 years. We will continue to assist Kim and pursue the multiple appeals she has filed.” (Read more from “Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Set to Be Released From Jail” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-08 21:38:002015-09-08 21:38:00Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Released From Jail
As supporters of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis prepared for a Tuesday rally featuring Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Davis remained in jail, even as her attorneys spent the holiday weekend fighting a judge’s order that sent her there.
Davis is the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A new appeal, filed Monday with the federal appeals court in Cincinnati, came four days after the Rowan County clerk was held in contempt of court for defying a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalizes gay marriage. Davis cited her religious beliefs in her refusal to issue the licenses.
Davis’ attorneys asked Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear to accommodate her “religious conviction” and have her freed from jail.
“Today is a holiday where most people are spending time with family and friends,” said attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel. “But for Kim Davis this is day five of her incarceration. While she is content no matter her circumstances because of her deep faith and Jesus, she should be free.”
Staver’s motion asks for an exemption from the governor’s mandate that all county clerks issue marriage licenses, even to same-sex couples. “Coercing Mrs. Davis to authorize and personally approve same-sex marriage in violation of her religious convictions and conscience is wrong,” Staver said. (Read more from “Kentucky Clerk Remains Behind Bars After 6 Days, Appeals Judge’s Order” HERE)
Marion County Circuit Judge Vance Day, a former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, took steps Thursday to create a legal defense fund in an apparent response to his decision not to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
Day took action because of what he described as “deeply-held religious beliefs,” KGW reported.
“It’s an exercise of his religious freedom rights under the First Amendment,” Day spokesman Patrick Korten told the news station.
In recent months, Day has not performed any marriage ceremonies, KGW reported. His courtroom is in Salem . . .
Day noted in an affidavit signed Aug. 19 that he was seeking to establish the fund to defray legal expenses in connection with inquiries by the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability involving allegations of violations of the Oregon Code of Judicial Conduct and the Oregon Constitution. (Read more from “Oregon Judge Refuses to Perform Same-Sex Marriages, Cites First Amendment Right to Religious Freedom” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-05 00:24:422015-09-05 00:24:42Oregon Judge Refuses to Perform Same-Sex Marriages, Cites First Amendment Right to Religious Freedom
After a federal judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to jail for failing to issue same-sex marriage licences, his efforts to create an alternative means for the county to comply with a court order to issue the licenses came up short.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning summoned Davis’ six deputy clerks to appear in his courtroom on Thursday, wanting them all to confirm their willingness to issue same-sex marriage licenses. While five of the six said they would be willing to do so, Nathan Davis, Kim’s 21 year old son, said he would not. The judge chose not to hold him in contempt.
Some of the clerks questioned whether they had the legal authority to issue licenses without the county clerk’s approval, which the judge conceded may be an issue.
Ms. Davis indicated that she will not grant her deputies the authority to issue licenses under her name, all but assuring she will be spending more time in jail.
As an elected official, Kim Davis cannot be fired. However, she can be impeached by the Kentucky legislature, which is not due to reconvene until after the new year. Democrat governor Steve Beshear has directed Davis to issue the licenses, but has resisted calling a special legislative session for the purpose of impeaching her or changing current law to grant authority to other county officials to issue licenses. Regardless, it is not clear if the legislature would vote to impeach Davis, whose stand is popular particularly in her part of the state. (Read more from “After Kentucky Clerk Was Ordered to Jail, Her Son Stood up in a Huge Way” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:34:012015-09-03 22:34:01After Kentucky Clerk Was Ordered to Jail, Her Son Stood up in an Incredible Way
By Bob Unruh. A federal judge who previously has sided with arguments for partial-birth abortion and homosexual clubs in public schools ordered jail on Thursday for a Kentucky county clerk who refused to violate her faith and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Judge David Bunning said fines were not enough punishment for the Christian clerk, Kim Davis.
“Everyone is stunned at this development,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which has been representing her.
“Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled.”
Staver said Davis “is a woman of strong faith.”
“She never sought to be in this position,” he said. “She would rather not be in this predicament. But here she is. All she asks is to be true to God and her conscience. And the tragedy is that there are simple ways to accommodate her convictions. Just remove her name from the marriage licenses. That’s all she has asked from the beginning. Today’s events will escalate this debate to a new level. This is not the kind of America the Founders envisioned or that most Americans want.” (Read more from this story HERE)
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Refusal to Issue a Same-Sex Marriage License Is a Civic Duty
By Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson. Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis lost her application in the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of a federal court order requiring her to issue a marriage license to a couple of the same sex. Denial of the stay put Clerk Davis in a difficult situation. Although the nation’s press has portrayed her as lawless, this one courageous lady is standing in the gap, defending the rule of law against judicial tyranny.
As an elected official faced with an obviously illegitimate Supreme Court opinion, in a better time, a President could have explained to the American people why the Fourteenth Amendment has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, and protected her. Failing that, Clerk Davis should have been able to call on her state’s Governor to protect her — to interpose between her and the five Justices. However, Democrat Governor Steven Lynn Beshear is demanding she make a choice – either resign, or comply with his lawless instructions to implement the Supreme Court decision sanctifying same sex marriage. The Governor apparently believes in the unconstitutional Doctrine of Judicial Supremacy — that by a stroke of the pen, five elite lawyers wearing black robes can rewrite the Constitution, and that no one may question their decisions. Even worse, the Governor apparently cares nothing about the created order. He has no problem with a Court that had the audacity to try to change the Creator’s definition of marriage for all America — by pretending to find the issue hidden in the penumbras and emanations of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
Clerk Davis’ position is quite different. She stands on God’s law and Kentucky’s law. God’s law is clear. See Genesis 2:18-24; Matthew 19:4-6. And, according to Kentucky law,
and notwithstanding the Governor’s action unilaterally preempting the authority of the Kentucky legislature, same-sex couples simply are not eligible to obtain a marriage license. Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, was passed by 75 percent of the voters in 2004. It states: “Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.”
Must Clerk Davis conform her practices as Clerk to those of a lawless Supreme Court and a capitulated Governor? Surely not. She decided she cannot turn back now. Having stated that her behavior is constrained by her understanding of God’s law, any retreat would do damage to the name and reputation of the Lord. She could resign. But resignation would be the equivalent to admitting that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s folly, no Bible-believing Christian or Jew can serve in public office in America. Efforts are already beginning to use the Obergefell decision to remove Christian judges across America.
Clerk Davis is constrained by her civic duty as an elected official in Kentucky, sworn to uphold the Constitution. As a lower civil magistrate, she had only one course of action – to refuse to issue the marriage license to the same-sex couple BECAUSE the federal court order requiring her to issue the license is based upon a wholly illegitimate decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that same-sex couples are constitutionally entitled to marry. Although some have tried to muddy the waters as to her reasons for resisting, this case is not a matter of her conscience or her personal religious scruples. It is about her civic duty as a civil government official. She resists illegality not because her conscience is offended, but rather it is her conscience and religious beliefs that gives her the courage to stand against lawlessness. She is well aware that she could face the court’s sanction for disobedience of a court order, perhaps including civil or criminal contempt of court.
However, Clerk Davis is bound by her oath to support the Kentucky State Constitution, and the United States Constitution – not as perversely and politically “interpreted” by the Supreme Court, or even by the Governor of Kentucky – but as she understands her oath to be. If it were to be otherwise, her oath would not be to support the Constitution, but rather a pledge of fealty to obey a higher government officer no matter how lawless that higher officer may behave.
According to Romans 13:4, Clerk Davis is a minister of God for good, and not for evil. While she is elected by the people, she is to serve the people according to the laws of God and men. As a servant of God, she has no authority to implement a court ruling that is contrary to God’s law. According to God’s law, two people of the same sex cannot marry, marriage being reserved to only one human relationship, one male and one female in a lifetime committed union. See Matthew 19:4-5. As was true for the apostles Peter and John when brought before the Council in Acts 4 and 5, Clerk Davis must obey God not men. Acts 5:29.
Therefore, Clerk Davis could not resign, and could not capitulate, so she resisted by interposing herself as a lower civil magistrate sworn to uphold the law, not just to do what a higher civil magistrate has ordered her to do. By resisting, Clerk Davis has been taken into federal custody, and could be fined. But she will be blessed of God for her righteous stand embracing the rule of law, and resisting tyrannical power. And, Clerk Davis’ courage just might inspire those in authority to have the courage of what they claim to be their convictions and join in the resistance.
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Herbert W. Titus taught Constitutional Law for 26 years, and concluded his academic career as the Founding Dean of Regent Law School. William J. Olson served in three positions in the Reagan Administration. Together they have filed over 80 briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, and dozens more in lower courts, addressing important public policy issues. They now practice law together at William J. Olson, P.C. They can be reached at [email protected] or twitter.com/Olsonlaw.
This article is part of a series on “Building Resistance to Same-Sex Marriage.” Please support this important work with a contribution to the U.S. Justice Foundation. Permission is freely granted to publish, copy, reproduce, distribute, or excerpt from this article for any purpose.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 10:16:182015-09-03 10:16:18Clerk Jailed for Religious Beliefs; Refusal to Issue a Same-Sex Marriage License Is a Civic Duty
