Amicus Brief: Signed, Sealed & Delivered!

Yesterday a 52 page amicus brief was filed in support of marriage equality here in California by a great cloud of witness, including California Faith for Equality, the California Council of Churches and -- I am proud to say -- the Episcopal Bishops of California and Los Angeles.

Here's a quote from the brief ... I expect the text will be available online shortly:

"According equal marriage rights for all in our civil law threatens no one’s religious liberty. Allowing same-sex couples the legal right to marry threatens the religious liberty of Catholics, for example, no more than does allowing civilly divorced citizens to remarry in contravention of Catholic doctrine.

Same-sex couples’ civil marriages threaten the religious liberty of those who oppose such unions in their churches and synagogues no more than interfaith marriages threaten the religious liberty of those who interpret their scripture and tradition to prohibit such unions. No one can force clergy of any denomination to solemnize any wedding that conflicts with his or her faith tradition, and no church, synagogue, or other place of worship loses its tax-exempt status for refusing religious rites of marriage to citizens possessing a civil right to marry.

Proposition 8 amounts to an unconstitutional codification of hostility toward loving relationships of gay men and lesbian women, yet does nothing at all to advance anyone’s religious liberty. Quite the contrary, religious freedom is diminished when government imposes the doctrines of some faith traditions on all. And humanity is diminished when anyone is deprived of a basic right."

Bravo! Well done! Amen!