Although the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26 to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states will result in many new benefits for same-sex couples, it may cause some initial headaches for small businesses. Each time state legislatures voluntarily enacted same-sex marriage, those marriage equality statutes included a reaffirmation of clergy rights. The third-largest newspaper in the state will not be publishing same-sex wedding or engagement announcements.
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Both Strange’s office and attorneys for April and Ginger Aaron-Brush – one of several same-sex couples who sued to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage past year – were cautious Tuesday about the document and its implications. Marriage also makes it easier for the employer to document and track who is eligible for coverage. “We have a right to our opinions, but because we are so tightly connected to our newspaper products, we don’t need to vocalize this on social media”.
Other Mississippi newspapers are not following the Daily Journal’s lead. Beyond the freedom of religious groups to perform marriages in accordance with their faith – a right no one save a few alarmists believe is threatened in America – how will we address the broad range of religious-freedom claims that will flow from the Court’s same-sex marriage decision? However, one must consider that if you were “gay”- that wasn’t the term used in those days – you ran the risk of being persecuted, prosecuted and, in some cases, executed for your sexual orientation.
“The courts simply can not overturn the ultimate authority in the United States under our Constitution: the people themselves”, he added.
Gay marriage is said to be a threat to such traditional marriages, but how or why is never explained. Marriage, he writes, is “a done deal”, and the issue will soon be relegated to “history books alongside questions of whether women should vote or alcohol should be prohibited”. The Supreme Court has decreed the discrimination will now cease.
But if reactions within and outside the USA are anything to go by, the apex court may not have the last word on the matter. So grow up and get over it.
Hopefully, in a couple of years, opposing citizens will realize the magnitude of this event and how it helped the human race move forward, how it will help millions of people live a life full of happiness and more importantly, they will realize the truth: love will always win. They won’t easily be dissuaded. Under similar logic, marriage clerks don’t have the right to choose not to serve gay men and lesbians, just as they also can’t refuse to serve interracial couples (something that a Louisiana public official, citing matters of “conscience”, attempted as recently as 2009; he was forced to resign).
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The Republicans’ problem is that to most Americans, that’s the antithesis of religious liberty, and a surefire political loser.
