And when the attempt to have their “union” blessed by the church, what does that say about their membership in that church? It says “false pretense.”
Sure it does, but do you think that will prevent a lawsuit, or a ruling against the church for discriminating against gays?
The entire strategy has been to pretend a desire or intent that does not exist - a gay person has no honest desire to be catered by a fundamentalist Christian - they DO have the desire to put that person out of business. They will use the same tactic here - and a claim of “false pretenses” will not protect the church, because such a claim will be ignored in the courts. The courts will look for two things: “Good Standing” and “Civil Marriage”. Just as the courts ignore the meaning of marriage, they will ignore the meaning of good standing. It will be seen as a stamp of approval, given by the church. Once given, it cannot be rescinded based on a member’s attempt to pursue their “constitutional” rights.
The courts will not see “Good Standing” as the agreement it truly is, between member and church, able to be nullified by or because of a member’s behavior or deceit.