Innocent-sounding Calif. bill could help legalize ‘gay marriage’, some say
Posted on Feb 5, 2010
by Michael Foust, Assistant Editor, The Baptist Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BP)–A new bill in the California legislature that purports to protect pastors from being forced to perform “gay marriages” actually contains language that could help open the door to legalizing such relationships down the road, conservatives who are watching the bill’s progress say.
Dubbed the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act, the bill (S.B. 906) is sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno — a leading advocate for “gay marriage” — and it would, he says, ensure that “no member of clergy or church will be penalized for refusing to solemnize marriages that violate their religious tenets.” If the bill did only that, there likely would be no controversy, but it also changes California law to call all marriages recognized by the state “civil marriages.”
Such terminology may seem insignificant, but the supporters of “gay marriage” nationally have adopted that language to distinguish between what they call “civil marriage” and “religious marriage,” apparently in an effort to gain support for their cause. For instance, a “gay marriage” bill in New Hampshire last year gained traction only after language was added including the “civil” and “religious” terms, specifying that religious institutions would not be forced to perform or recognize civil marriages. It was signed into law. Opponents of the bill in that state said the new language was a smokescreen that simply restated what already was the case. It also, they argued, did not go far enough in protecting religious freedom.
Although California passed a constitutional amendment known as Prop 8 prohibiting “gay marriage,” it could be overturned through a federal court ruling or by the passage of another constitutional amendment.
The bill has the support of the homosexual group Equality California and the California Council of Churches IMPACT, a liberal-leaning religious group. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC) also supports the bill, but a convention official told Baptist Press that the CSBC does not.
The California Family Policy Council, a social conservative organization that sometimes works with the CSBC, has not taken a position on the bill but is studying it and does have concerns, legislative coordinator Everett Rice told Baptist Press.
“The concern is over the specific changing of the California statute to create a new class of civil marriage,” Rice said. “We are concerned that that’s going to become another avenue of actually changing the definition of marriage itself. That’s been pretty much the focus of Sen. Leno’s and those who support homosexual marriage. Our concern is that the bill incrementally begins the process of doing that. What we’ve seen in the past is that measures like these incrementally try to change whole institutions.”
Rice pointed to the state’s same-sex domestic partnership law, which when passed initially in 1999 provided homosexual couples only some of the legal benefits of marriage. It later was expanded to provide all the legal benefits. Then, when the California Supreme Court legalized “gay marriage” in 2008 — a ruling later reversed by Prop 8 — the justices pointed to the domestic partnerships law and said it was unconstitutional to have a separate but equal system.
Said Leno, who is openly homosexual, “Some opponents of marriage for same-sex couples have argued that churches and members of clergy would be required to solemnize marriages that conflict with their religious beliefs. While we know religious freedom is protected under our Constitution, this legislation eliminates any confusion or doubt under state law….” Read more…