Where should we, as Christians, stand on gay marriage?

Contents:

• THE VIEW STAR REVEALS WHY SHE AGRE WH SUPREME COURT LG FOR SIGNER WHO OPPOS GAY MARRIAGE
• WHERE SHOULD WE, AS CHRISTIANS, STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE?
• THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE?

THE VIEW STAR REVEALS WHY SHE AGRE WH SUPREME COURT LG FOR SIGNER WHO OPPOS GAY MARRIAGE

"Basilly, what says is, bee somethg like creatg a webse would be eedom of exprsn or speech, this would also — let's flip on s head — would protect a gay web signer om havg to create a bigoted, anti-LGBTQ webse. "You don't know somebody's gay unls you ask them, so if the web signer says, 'Um, we're booked up, ' they don't have to al wh that other stuff this woman ma this about. " Goldberg prsed on, tellg Griff, "This is about beg able to say, 'I don't want to do a gay person's webse, ' that's what this is about.

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Mnota.Clerk Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. Supreme Court 1972 cled to hear the se “for want of a substantial feral qutn.” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg legal.In 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years.Marriage Equaly: Turng the Ti In the late 1980s and early 1990s, same-sex upl saw the first signs of hope on the marriage ont a long time.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other benefs.Three years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. Ernment.Then, 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage legal.The Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the su.As the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three years.The Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

WHERE SHOULD WE, AS CHRISTIANS, STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE?

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to law.DOMA didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs.

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other thgs.The act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. In 1998, voters approved a nstutnal amendment banng same-sex marriage the state.Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of marriage.Three years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, 2004.Later that year, the U.S.

THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS

Bh—that would outlaw gay marriage across the untry.2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay marriage.But towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage issue.The state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007.

Perry legalized same-sex marriage California.The early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage 2012.Same-sex marriage also beme a feral issue aga.In 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June 2015.By this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

This is the dilemma for some Christians regardg gay marriage: do we agree wh what God says or follow the wisdom of the world?

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

Many Christians, particularly those who are theologilly and/or polilly nservative, are not encumbered wh sympathetic feelgs regardg homosexual behavr. Perhaps gay marriage do herald the end of the world, but that's what we've been lookg forward to, anyway (Revelatn 22:20).

Followg Pope Francis’s announcement clarg support for civil unn laws for same-sex upl, which breaks wh tradnal Catholic valu that oppose homosexual relatnships, the lear has garnered both cricism and support om people all over the world. Most recently, NBC reports that retired Philippe Bishop Arturo Bast mented that he “had very ser doubts about the moral rrectns” of the Pope’s stance on legalizg gay relatnships. While the lear of the Catholic Church exprsed his support for gay civil unns, other branch of the church rema adamant the tradnal Catholic valu.

Statistics suggt, however, that gays and lbians are not creasg number, if we accept the bt rearch data of Edward Lmann, who puts the number at about 5% of the populatn1. What has grown is a much greater acceptance of gays and lbians our culture, as well as the social and enomic eedom for gays and lbians to emerge om the closet that has nfed them for so many generatns.

WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE?

The recent addn of same sex mment ceremoni the Sunday New York Tim weddg and engagement announcements and the populary of shows as "Will and Grace" and "Queer Eye…" dite a shift our culture's attu toward gays and lbians. My tent was two-fold: first to ve stunts to dialogue wh people different om themselv; send, to work to elimate, whatever small way I uld, homophobic attus on our mp and our muny.