We’ve written multiple times on the coming clash between religious groups that do not recognize the legitimacy of gay marriages or civil unions and gay couples and activists who think they should be forced too. A recent court decision in New Jersey serves as a case in point:
The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights ruled that the refusal of the church group, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist organization that owns a square mile of beachfront property in Ocean Grove, near Asbury Park, to rent the spot to the couple violated the public accommodation provisions of the state’s Law Against Discrimination.
While the ruling decisively favors the couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, it does not end the case, which has become a major symbol in the gay rights battle in New Jersey and beyond.
An administrative law judge still must decide on a remedy for the parties.“What this case has always been about from my clients’ perspective has been equality,” said Larry Lustberg, a lawyer for the couple. He said they would seek an order that required the pavilion to be “open to all on an equal basis.”
Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., group that represents the Camp Meeting Association, said his clients would resist allowing civil unions on the property.
“Our position is the same,” he said. “A Christian organization has a Constitutional right to use their facilities in a way that is consistent with their beliefs.”
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
