Politics
Tuesday January 6, 2009
New Jersey Rules against Christian Group that Declined to Host Lesbian Civil Union Ceremony
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Kathleen Gilbert
MOUNT LAUREL, New Jersey, January 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A New Jersey Christian group has lost a case against a lesbian couple who brought the group to court for refusing to rent out their oceanfront grounds to the pair for a civil union ceremony.
The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights on Monday ruled that the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association had violated the public accommodation provisions of state anti-discrimination laws. A remedy has not yet been settled.
"What this case has always been about from my clients' perspective has been equality," said Larry Lustberg, the couple's attorney. Lustberg indicated the couple would pursue an order mandating that the Christian group be "open to all on an equal basis."
The couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster of Ocean Grove, sued the group after they refused to rent them their square-mile property in March of 2007. Another lesbian couple also sued the very next month to use the grounds, but lost their case as the group had already put a halt to leasing the property for any wedding ceremony.
The director of the state's Division on Civil Rights and the official who wrote Monday's ruling, Frank Vespa-Papaleo, recommended last month that New Jersey become the third U.S. state to introduce same-sex "marriage" into law.
Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund who fought on behalf of the Methodist group, said they would continue to fight for their first amendment rights. "Our position is the same," said Raum. "A Christian organization has a constitutional right to use their facilities in a way that is consistent with their beliefs."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Methodist Camp Meeting Association Sues New Jersey for Civil Union Investigation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081501.html
Lesbian Couple Files Complaint against Church for Refusing Civil Union Ceremony
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07071011.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.