Remember the favorite rightwing talking point, of a Methodist church "forced" to host gay weddings? From the
New Civil Rights Movement: (my emphases)
...Judge Solomon Metzger affirmed the findings of a 2008 New Jersey State Division of Civil Rights investigation, ruling the couple was illegally discriminated against. Judge Metzger’s written decision makes a blatant lie out of a favorite Republican anti-gay marriage talking point: that a New Jersey Methodist group, The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, will be forced to allow same-sex unions on their private property despite their religious objections. It turns out, the Association was not so much victim of a “War on Christianity” as it was caught in it’s own scam to cheat on their taxes. ...
....Under New Jersey law, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association could have kept their camp completely private. They also had the option of opening the camp for public use but protecting it under a state provision that allows religious organizations to exempt themselves from hosting people or events that are at odds with their religious faith. (That’s right, never mentioned by the Republicans who tell this story, there already exists in New Jersey law a “carve out” that would have allowed the camp to legally discriminate against Paster and Bernstein.) But the Camp Meeting Association chose neither of those options.
The Methodists decided protecting their anti-gay “values” and keeping same-sex couples from using their camp was not their priority. Instead, they applied for the “Green Acres” real estate subsidy New Jersey offers for conservation or recreational property, knowing that one of the requirements for the tax break was that the camp would be “open for public use on an equal basis.” When they refused to allow Paster and Bernstein to use the camp pavilion in the same way they allowed dozens of other heterosexual couples to do in the past, the Association breached that contract. It is that simple. So says Judge Metzger.....
The Camp lost its property subsidy. That was its only punishment. Contrary to Republican lore, the Camp was forced to host exactly zero same-sex unions. Once it lost the “Green Acres” tax exemption it lied to obtain, Ocean Grove Camp decided to sign up for that “religious exemption” after all, and they are now free to legally act out their “values,” keeping the Christian trees safe from gay influence.
....Facts have never gotten in the way of a good Republican “victimhood” tale, but with Judge Metzler’s decision, those who claim The Ocean Grove Camp Association is a victim the “War on Christianity” have lost their moral high ground.
2 comments:
Great summation.
I grew up near (though not that near) to Ocean Grove. Blue laws meant something in that community (no driving on Sunday and this was enforced until about 1980 when it was ruled unconstitutional). Ocean Grove will continue to be problematic because no one owns land in that community except the camp meeting association (the residents all lease and many of the residents are gays and lesbians [the Jersey shore has become 'in' it seems] but no resident has a voice in the camp meeting association by virtue of being a resident).
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