The next step will be for a same-sex couple to demand that a particular minister or priest marry them in the church over which he presides. In the course of that kerfluffle, if the church does not roll over, the IRS will advise the church that if the ceremony is not carried out, the church will be denied its tax-exempt status.
If the GOP had any sense they would follow queer marriage with EXTREMELY severe penalties for recruiting anyone under 21 years of age. Let them “marry” if they want but slam them in a cell for life for touching anyone under 21 and in a couple decades queer marriage will be a footnote in history.
“The next step will be for a same-sex couple to demand that a particular minister or priest marry them in the church over which he presides. In the course of that kerfluffle, if the church does not roll over, the IRS will advise the church that if the ceremony is not carried out, the church will be denied its tax-exempt status.”
The mosque will be exempt, though.
Even better, make sure all the children are indoctrinated so that they don’t attend the church, making the church fall apart more than it could hope to from doing it without.
The churches should give up their secular role of signing off on the legal aspects of marriage and just do the spiritual nuptials. A couple should do their legal stuff at the county clerk. Their church can do the spiritual wedding and therefore can legally refuse to do Gay weddings.
The only cudgel the Gays have is this mythical right not to be discriminated against and if the secular roles that churches have to register a legal marriage are given up by them, the Gays would have no legal rights to sue a church under the 1st Amendment.
A church could say to a gay couple...”we can’t do legal marriages here, you’ll need to go down to the Justice of the peace. Hetero’s unfortunately would have to get their marriages similarly registered but they could still have a church wedding blessed by their community and God. A church can refuse to do a Gay wedding service on spiritual grounds or the gays can look to find a more accommodating church and minister as there are scores around who will accommodate them...but the Gays will have no legal grounds to sue.