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Archbishop Dolan: Gays Threatening To Sue Church Over Marriage Denials
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 2, 2011
Modified Nov 2, 2011
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AP
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 2, 2011
Modified Nov 2, 2011
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Archbishop Dolan has no made no secret of the fact that he does not approve of marriage equality—but now, as JoeMyGod points out, he appears to just be scaremongering on the topic. In a long interview with Salt Lake City's Deseret News, Dolan claims that priests across New York are being threatened with lawsuits for not allowing gay marriages—even though the church's right to do so was one of the sticking points that almost held up marriage equality in New York in the first place.
"I fought hard, I prayed hard, I cooperated, I spoke, I advocated, I did everything I could" to stop gay marriage, Dolan moans to the paper. But in the end, the haters lost and marriage equality passed, so now Dolan is trying to turn that leftover hate into haterade:
"One of our arguments has always been that people of principle who feel this violates their deepest-held convictions are going to be forced to the wall," Archbishop Dolan said. "We were told we were being Chicken Littles and that was ridiculous." But "no sooner was the ink dry," he said, than priests throughout the state started coming to him with stories of couples threatening to sue if they didn't agree to rent out their parishes for same-sex weddings.
Which is funny, since those lawsuits wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Religious organizations in New York are not only specifically protected from lawsuits for not allowing gay marriages, but they are also protected "from being penalized by the state, through loss of aid to church welfare programs, for example."
Then things get bonkers when the paper starts talking to Richard Barnes, executive director of the New York Catholic Conference, who has an amazing reason why gay marriage shouldn't be okay (or at least need amendments):
For example, if a male employee of the Catholic Church were to take advantage of the new law and marry another man, he would likely be dismissed for embracing a lifestyle that contradicts the religion's teachings, Barnes said. But as it's written, the New York marriage law offers no specific protection for the hiring and firing practices of religious organizations.
Yup, a good reason not to have gay marriage is because if a Catholic Church employee were to get gay married and were fired for it, the Church could get in trouble for firing them. After all, "We have to be particularly vigorous now in the protection of religious freedom," Archbishop Dolan said, "making sure the government does not force us to violate our conscience." Oh, the old separation of church and conscience clause!
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archbishop dolan
gay marriage
homophobia
marriage equality
thomas dolan
Garth Johnston
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