No Marriage for You!

"Wedded Bliss for All Or None: To Protest Ban on Gay Unions, Arlington Pastor Refuses to Conduct Marriages"

By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 15, 2005; Page B04 here

"Clarendon Presbyterian Church Pastor David Ensign has an alternative air about him. He wears an earring and has been known to pick up his guitar to play a few hymns during Sunday services.

But he surprised even some of Arlington's die-hard progressives Nov. 3 at the county's annual human rights awards ceremony, where his church was honored. He used the occasion to announce the church's new wedding policy:

"What we're saying is that in the commonwealth of Virginia, the laws that govern marriage are unjust and unequal," says Pastor David Ensign of Clarendon Presbyterian Church.

Traditional marriages are out. "Celebrations of commitment" are in.

To protest Virginia's laws banning same-sex marriage, Ensign and the church's governing council decided recently that Clarendon Presbyterian will no longer have any weddings, and Ensign will renounce his state authority to marry couples.

Any heterosexual couple who has their union "blessed" in a "celebration ceremony" at the tiny church will have to take the extra step of being officially wed by a justice of the peace at the courthouse."
posted by maggie at 10:04 AM VOTE

1 Comments:

At 11/20/2005 12:19 PM,  Bill Ware said...

We may all choose to protest the injustice that unwarranted prejudice brings in various ways. I have written many letters to the editor over the years. In one, I responded to a national survey that reported that gay teenagers are three times more likely to commit suicide than their peers. I addressed the false claim by some that people "choose" to be gay or that a person can "change" their sexual orientation by asking this simple question. "Why would a teen choose to be gay and commit suicide if he or she could simply choose to be straight and live happily ever after?"

In the responses that appeared in the paper during the week that followed, I could see that some understood how these hateful untruths about gays were killing our children.

Nearly ten years after I wrote that letter, on May 8th, last year, we had our first "Gay Day in Rhea County" celebration. I'm proud to say that not a single anti-gay bigot showed up to protest! Think about that. Here we are in Dayton, TN, home of the 1925 Scope's "monkey" trail and reputed "Buckle of the Bible Belt," yet we're willing to treat our citizens who are gay with the understanding and respect they deserve.

The pastor in this post chose to protest the unequal treatment of gays in his way and I protest in mine. The results in Rhea County give me hope that the prejudice against gays based on ignorance and hate will gradually be replaced by a better understanding of gays and the situations they struggle with day to day. It will take time, but I'm confident that our country will some day reach the goal of "liberty and justice for all."

 

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