Posted on 07/08/2002 1:14:29 PM PDT by Incorrigible
Published in the Home News Tribune 7/08/02
By JENNIFER MICALE
STAFF WRITER
NEW BRUNSWICK[, NJ]: While civil marriage is denied to same-sex couples, the law cannot tell a person whom to love, the Rev. Kevin Taylor said yesterday.
Taylor's sermon to members of Unity Fellowship Church in New Brunswick was part of a larger effort by the New Jersey Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry to support marriage rights for same-sex couples. Nearly two weeks ago, seven lesbian and gay couples filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in Jersey City claiming the right to marry.
Represented by Lambda Legal, a national gay and lesbian civil-rights group, the plaintiffs hope to erase barriers that block them from the health insurance, tax breaks, inheritance rights and child protections enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
More than 150 clergy and 40 congregations in New Jersey have expressed their support of same-sex marriages by endorsing a marriage resolution, according to the coalition. Clergy from two Episcopal churches in Hackensack and Clifton and a Unitarian minister in Plainfield have spoken at recent services in support of same-sex marriage.
Taylor, speaking in front of a small congregation yesterday, noted that black slaves were denied the right to wed. When they sought to memorialize their unions, they jumped over a broom, he noted.
"That was the only vow you needed because you made it before the Lord," he said. "Great-great-grandma and great-great-granddaddy didn't have a marriage certificate. You don't need the law to tell you it's all right to love somebody if you run it by the Lord."
"God had his arms wrapped about our community," said congregant Laquetta C. Nelson, president of the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats, which promotes the election of Democrats supportive of gay, lesbian and transgender issues. "The whole struggle is all about us loving each other and all the other Christians and spiritual people loving us too."
While same-sex couples will love one another despite the law, the legal protections that come with marriage are extremely important, Nelson said. Without them, a person can lose virtually everything after a long-term partner dies because the couple was not considered married, she said. A partner also may not be able to visit a sick loved one in the hospital because their union is not recognized, she said.
"Something needs to be done to stop these cruel things from happening," she said. "The lawsuit gives people hope."
The New Brunswick congregation is the 12th church in the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, which was founded in 1985 in Los Angeles. The ministry was founded in response to the AIDS and cancer crises in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. The New Brunswick church does not yet have its own building. It holds services at the Bayard Street Presbyterian Church.
Jennifer Micale: (732) 565-7217; e-mail jmicale@thnt.com
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For your sake Rev, I hope you're channeling the Lord on this issue.
It's unfortunate that the state needs to be involved in the definition of marriage at all. If there were fewer "government benefits" involved in marriage then Lambda might not be pushing for this issue. However, it would be hard to outlaw incest, pedophilia, bestiality and what not without backing into a government specified definition of marriage anyway.
Odd, prior to 10 years ago, marriage as an institution was supposed to be dead according to the prognosticators of the time.
Kevin missed Leviticus 18:22 being run by the Lord.
I'll stick with loving God and obeying His Word on issues of morality. That means no homosexual marriage.
I've heard a lot of black folks don't like their struggles related to the homosexual agenda. Typical homo agenda shite.
Such a tiny group.
Funny then how the law deigns to be able to tell you who not to hate...
Pow!
How do you spell Icabod? The Spirit has left this church.
I'll stick with God on this too. Homosexuals can make whatever commitments they want between or among themselves. They do not have the right to appropriate the institution of marriage - which for the vast majority of Americans is the sacred life-long bond between man and woman. If state-sponsored 'marriage' is provided for homosexuals, it will then be provided for polygamists, people who want to marry their animals, and people who want to be in 'group marriages.' The word 'marriage' will mean nothing at all.
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