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Loading ...Evangelical pastor: Straight couples should refuse to sign Calif. licenses
09.16.2008 2:57pm EDT
(Sacramento, California) An evangelical pastor is advising couples not to sign California’s gender-neutral marriage licenses as a protest.
After the California Supreme Court struck down the ban on gay marriage in May, the state amended its marriage licenses, replacing “Bride” and ‘Groom” with “Party A” and “Party B.”Following a wedding, the license must be signed and sent to the state for registration.
The Sacramento Bee reports that the first couple to follow the advice of Pastor Doug Bird of the Abundant Life Fellowship is Bird’s own daughter.
Rachel Bird married Gideon Codding last month, but they have not signed the license nor sent it in to be registered.
Rev. Bird has called on other churches to follow hid daughter’s lead.
“I would encourage you to refuse to sign marriage licenses with ‘Party A’ and ‘Party B,’” Bird said in a letter to area churches. “If ever there was a time for the people of the United States to stand up and let their voices be heard – this is that time.”
Bird tells The Bee that he has received positive reactions from other clergy. A state spokesperson told the paper that as far as he knows, no other married couple has refused to sign their license.
Unless a marriage is registered, partners are unable to take advantage of rights accorded to married couples - including a bride taking her husband’s name.
In the case of Bird and Codding, Rachel Bird is unable to be added to Codding’s medical benefits.
Bird told The Bee that the decision not to register their marriage was “personal – not religious.”
“We just feel that our rights have been violated,” she said.
She also said she and Codding are exploring their legal options.
A proposed amendment to the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage will appear on the ballot in November. Recent polls suggest it will not win approval.
“Bird told The Bee that the decision not to register their marriage was ‘personal – not religious.’
‘We just feel that our rights have been violated,’ she said.”
Um, what? Somehow HER rights were taken away? I thought the ruling GAVE rights to a certain group, not take away rights from others.
Now who is making a mockery of the sanctity of marriage? What type of protest is solemnizing a wedding and making it legally invalid by not filing the license?
Pastor “Doug Bird” can suck my d**k and go f**k himself and shove his fairy tale book up his a** in the process.
Well, Rachel dearest! Whose marriage rights have been violated for so long, not your marriage rights but the marriage rights of gay couples long before you were ever born!
I think this is a great idea and hope many of Bird’s followers and friends follow his advice. Then maybe they will see what its like to not have their marriage recognized and all the rights and privileges that go with marriage denied to them…just like gay couples have done for decades.
This seems crazy to me. Who is this going to hurt but them. And I agree with DBZEAG it is really crazy for her to say that their rights have been violated. Well, at least they will see what it’s like to have the ceremony, but not have it recognized. It’s amazing how these people think.
Great! I encourage all bigots to not sign their marriage licenses. Enjoy your non-legal status!
Talk about cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face… my partner and I were married last weekend and my sisters (one is Mormon!) had no problem signing as witness. After everything we went through to be able to wed, I laugh my a** at these three idiots!
Well, you have to love this one. Ever heard of shooting yourself in the foot? Leave it to the religious right to recommend that their constituents harm themselves by refusing to register their marriages. I agree with Tiger Tzu - let them continue to refuse to sign and find out what it’s like to spend the thousands of dollars it takes to buy the legal protections marriage offers in one stroke of the pen.
Yes, her right to discriminate was taken away. Boo Hoo.
This is a great idea! Unless they are signed and sent to the state, they cannot take advantage of the rights of married couples. (Just like us) Let them see how many right they are denied by not signing. Let them try to raise children with the rights of married people. Let them be second class citizens. Let them fight for health insurance.
Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves. For the first time in history, a straight couple has less rights than a gay couple. This is awfully generous of them, giving up their rights like that in a gesture of restitution for decades of inequality. And to suggest that others do the same? They stand as a beacon of Christian compassion.
I hope you can sense my sarcasm (and delight).
Just more evidence that Evangelical Chritians are anti-Marriage and anti-Family! Sad state of religious communities!
“Bird told The Bee that the decision not to register their marriage was “personal – not religious.””
Hmmm, isn’t bearing false witness a SIN??? Of COURSE this was a ‘religious’ decision (self-righteous’ is more like it).
“We just feel that our rights have been violated,” she said.”
In what way? They are still allowed to get married. If they have to resort to lie, they’ve already lost their ‘case’.
Good idea, though, to let them realize exactly what we have done without since, well, forever.
So this means they will not be married and will be “living in sin”. They will not receive the 1000 or so benefits of marriage.
If they go to court to try to keep their benefits, they will surely loose. Marriage is really nothing more than a secular legal contract as far as government is concerned.
All they are doing is protesting a couple of blobs of ink on apiece of paper. Sure seems like a stupid move on their part. Talk about how crazy an evangelical idiot can be!