In the US, priests and rabbis and imams and ministers CAN NOT LEGALLY MARRY YOU. The State – each State within the Union – has laws. You apply for a license; the celebrant oversees its completion – like having witnesses sign, etc.
But a Catholic priest can perform as many Sacraments of Matrimony as he wants – and not a single one of those Catholic couples is married in law until that license is legally completed.
“Marriage equality” is about making sure those licenses are available to same-sex couples.
It has NEVER EVER BEEN about forcing religious leaders to perform marriage ceremonies within their religious traditions that they do not want to.
I DON’T WANT A CATHOLIC MARRIAGE. I don’t want to go to St. James Cathedral here in Seattle and forcing the Archbishop to marry me to the guy I want to marry (when I have said guy; position is still available).
The fact that the CHIEF JUSTICE of the SUPREME COURT of the UNITED STATES didn’t know this – that priests have no legal authority, that same-sex marriage has never been about FORCING THIS ISSUE – horrifies and nauseates me and DESTROYS my faith in the court to uphold the Constitution.
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