Apr 23, 2012
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Religious liberty groups are blasting a proposed ordinance that would force churches in Hutchinson, Kan. to rent their facilities for gay weddings and gay parties.
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The Hutchinson City Council will consider adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the protected classes in the city’s human relations code. They are expected to vote on the changes next month.
According to the Hutchinson Human Relations Commission, churches that rent out their buildings to the general public would not be allowed to discriminate “against a gay couple who want to rent the building for a party.”
Meryl Dye, a spokesperson for the Human Relations Commission confirmed to Fox News that churches would be subjected to portions of the proposed law.
“They would not be able to discriminate against gay and lesbian or transgender individuals,” Dye said. “That type of protection parallels to what you find in race discrimination. If a church provides lodging or rents a facility they could not discriminate based on race. It’s along that kind of thinking.”
Matthew Staver, chairman of the Liberty Counsel Action, told Fox News the proposed law is “un-American.”
“It is a collision course between religious freedom and the LGBT agenda,” Staver said. “This proposed legislation will ultimately override the religious freedom that is protected under the First Amendment.”
He argued that churches cannot be forced by the government to set aside their religious convictions and their mission. And, he warned, some churches could even be forced to rent their buildings for drag parties.
“What we are ultimately going to see is churches forced to confront this law, forced to do things and allow their facilities to be used by people and for events that diametrically undercut the mission of the church,” he said.
Robert Noland, of the Kansas Family Policy Council, said the law would extend well beyond allowing access for gay weddings.
“They (churches) could not deny renting space to a gay couple if they want to have a party,” he told Fox News. “This is just another example of government creating a law imposing upon the freedom of religion and basically telling churches what they can and can’t do.”
So what could happen to churches in Hutchinson that refuse to accommodate gay parties or weddings?
“Unless the city council includes an exemption for churches, it would generate a discrimination complaint for the gay couple and it would be investigated,” Dye told Fox News. She said any churches found guilty of violating the law could be subjected to fines or other penalties.
Gary Ridge, an associate pastor of Westside Baptist Church, told Fox News their congregation would not comply with the proposed law should it pass. He said their church would refuse to host either gay weddings or parties – even if it meant a possible investigation or fines.
“We apply the Bible to our lives,” he said. “When there is a contradiction between what the city council asks and what the Bible says, we are going to follow the Bible.”
“This is an opportunity for the LGBT community to cram their belief system down on our community,” Ridge said. “It may look like a small step, but it’s not the end. Before you know it they will be able to shut down churches for preaching Romans 1:26-27. We’ll be sued for refusing to have homosexual weddings.”
Ridge said Hutchinson is a conservative city, a part of the Bible Belt – and he blamed the controversy on outsiders.
“This is part of a bigger desire to have their lifestyle condoned and accepted,” he said. “We don’t condone their activity.”
The Hutchinson measure would also have a major impact on private businesses and landlords. Restaurants, bars and retail shops would be required to provide special bathrooms for individuals who may have male body parts but identify as a female.
According to a FAQ sheet provided by the city, employers would also be forced to allow workers to dress based on their gender identity. Read the entire FAQ sheet by clicking here.
“Dress codes would not be precluded as long as an employer allows an employee to appear, groom and dress consistent with the employee’s gender identity and gender expression,” the FAQ stated.
As far as bathrooms, the city FAQ stated, “A transgender person must be allowed to use restrooms appropriate to their gender identity rather than their assigned gender at birth without being harassed or questioned.”
The city’s revised ordinance would also require transgender individuals to use the locker room and shower facilities of their choosing.
Another issue for Hutchinson’s Christian community involves workplace discrimination. The policy dictates that business owners or landlords are not allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
That’s a problem for Michael Brockman, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church.
“I know a couple who owned a bed and breakfast in Kansas City,” he said. “They decided to shut down because they could see that they were going to be forced to make decisions that might have legal effects upon them. They might be sued if they didn’t rent their facility out to a gay couple who might want to use it.”
Staver said it’s unfair that Christian business owners might have to make decisions about their future.
“You shouldn’t have to choose between participating in the marketplace, running a business or operating a church on the one hand and accepting the LGBT agenda on the other,” Staver said. “This is a battle that is coming. This is a culture divide I think we will see play out across the country.”
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I'm not a Christian. I have gay friends. But enough is enough. If it was about them wantig to get married is one thing. But now they want to force churches to rent to them. The church has a right to refuse to rent to them under the bill of rights. I am greatly disappointed with the attacks that have been aimed at Christians lately.
Though not fair, the simple solution would be for churches that currently rent their buildings to the general public…stop renting completely. That would eliminate the churches from having to abide by the law that is being considered.
It seems the LBGT movement has made a point of branding anyone who disagrees with their lifestyle (not all of them, clearly) as bigots. To do this, it is necessary to first frame the other side as uneducated/ignorant, which implies that all that is needed to change their minds is forced education through compliance via legislation.
Then they must imply that wanting equal rights for both parties (the 'church' or 'business' vs the offended) is some sort of harkening to slavery, a desire for the good ole days. This is how you win political arguments; not through reason, but through demonization. If they truly wanted religion and state to be separate, this wouldn't even be a case to be had.
Send the first batch to Westboro Baptist.
I was born in Kansas, and proud. This law however makes me ashamed of Kansas. I would never move back home if it passed. You can't force anyone to do anything against their own free will. If I am against Gay people and Gay marriage then I have a right given by the constitution to say so. I will not change my beliefs against gays, I will never approve of them in any way, shape or form. The more they push this issue, the more I will discriminate. You will never force me to believe in something I don't believe in. I would rather die. And you hippies who will call me a "homophobe", I can tell you that I am straighter than an arrow. I tolerate all races, and two sexes which are male and female. I Do Not Tolerate Gays, and I'm not scared of stating this.
Here's a hint: Gays don't care if you approve of them or nor. What, you think they need your permission to be who they are?
Ken Thor White My point is that regardless of all the protests and commercials about how people should be more tolerant to them, I will not change. The Gay rights groups illegally forcing Churches to marry them is unconstitutional and against the Bible, Torah, and Quran. Just because I'm white, does it give me the right to force the Black Collegiate Club to accept me as a member? I will not go around beating up gays, but I have deep objections at the length the Gay Rights are pushing their agenda. What next? Gay history in U.S classes? There are many out there like me. The more you push, the more we feel squeezed and there will be consequences for pushing us. Nobody will tell me I have to tolerate Gays, if Federal law says I have to be tolerant then I will retaliate.
Exactly I'm agreed with you , it's illegal and not appropriate to forcing churches to do that ,it is against the Bible,Torah and Quran , at least respect other !!!!!!!
If you would like to have rights start to respect father
Ahmetcan Caglayan: This ordinance says nothing about churches being forced to marry anyone. It appears to say that businesses who rent out halls for events cannot discriminate against anyone while engaging in that business.
Ken, If I don't want to rent my house out to the KKK, Black Panthers, Gays, Thugs regardless of race, then I should not be forced to. My point, don't make others do something against their own free will. The Gay Rights groups are pushing their legal limits too much and are infringing upon other people's rights of thought.
Pushing laws to change people's lives is depriving them of their freedom. Gay marriage is against the religious holy books, nobody has the right to change it. Censorship is unlawful due to the first amendment, but freedom of speech is getting attacked by gay rights groups who want to make anyone talking bad about gays suffer discrimation laws against them.
Pushing laws to change people's lives is depriving them of their freedom. Gay marriage is against the religious holy books, nobody has the right to change it. Censorship is unlawful due to the first amendment, but freedom of speech is getting attacked by gay rights groups who want to make anyone talking bad about gays suffer discrimation laws against them.
Christians just need to learn that IN THIS COUNTRY, their hatred and bigotry is not tolerated.
If they want to behave like Klansmen and Nazis – they'll have to take it to some place like the Vatican, where such character flaws are considered acceptable.
You need to learn that Christians outnumber your kind and won't be bullied. And, in this country, everyone has the right to discriminate. What do you think freedom and liberty are?
You need to learn that Christians outnumber your kind and won't be bullied. And, in this country, everyone has the right to discriminate. What do you think freedom and liberty are?
Our courts are not "bullying" you.
They're just making you behave yourselves a little bit – because it's the right thing to do.
Of course Muslims will be excluded – we don't want offend them. Dear God – PC has rn amuck in America.
I would think the simplest answer is to vote every single council member out who supports this law and then see that it is repealed if it passes.
I for sure am taking note of who these people are. Normally city councils don't do anything relevant, but you can be certain they will rue the day they voted for this ordinance.
We are rewriting our history, and redefining the English language. There is a distinction between discrimination and acceptance. A businessman who will not hire an individual due to felony convictions for theft, is not discriminating against the individual. The individual’s actions are not acceptable to the businessman. A person who is not hired because they addicted to cigarettes, or schizophrenic, or have gender confusion, or host a terrorist website – do not get to claim discrimination. A businessman who will not hire an individual because they are a woman, or white, or black, is guilty of discrimination. The same principles are true when renting your facility.
What the H? You can own a bar but you can't allow a person to smoke in the bar but you own a church and have to allow gays to use it? What is wrong with these brainless legislators?
This is what happens when we start giving behavior the equivalence of race. It is simply not the same thing. Good intentions at times have severe unintended consequences. Unless you want to see pastors arrested for preaching the gospel it's time to put a stop to the whole gay marriage thing. Civil union, sure if they want, but the whole reason for gay marriage is to force the LGBT agenda onto to every aspect of society. In other words it's a political move to foce a drastic change in our society and has nothing to do with equality.
If the KKK wants to rent a black chuch for a rally, please tell me they can say, "No thanks".
This is just another example of politicians who haven't a clue what our Consitution says or means. Our founding fathers wanted a limited government.(Stay out of our lives). It was the rights of the people they were most interested in. One of those rights were religious freedom, not the govenment telling what people can and cannot do or believe. We all need to examine whether or not we want to serve the government or do we want the government to serve us. We need to elect people who want government to serve the people, not what we have now in this country. We need a constituional amendment to require any elected official to read and understand the Constitution. We need to bring back God to our Country.
This underscores the thought that I recently heard from a coworker that the US Constitution simply has no meaning anymore, particularly to the left. Unless you want to start repealing the Bill of Rights, then this is 100% unconstitutional. I don't know how else to say it. What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" don't you understand?
This underscores the thought that I recently heard from a coworker that the US Constitution simply has no meaning anymore, particularly to the left. Unless you want to start repealing the Bill of Rights, then this is 100% unconstitutional. I don't know how else to say it. What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" don't you understand?
What happened to "Separation of Church and State"? They have no right to make this kind of law….
What happened to "Separation of Church and State"? They have no right to make this kind of law….
Why doesnt the gay community start their own religion and churches to host their weddings? I support their legal rights to form unions under the law but that does not extend to forcing their will down the throats of Chrisrians and their churches.
Why doesnt the gay community start their own religion and churches to host their weddings? I support their legal rights to form unions under the law but that does not extend to forcing their will down the throats of Chrisrians and their churches.
GOOD LORD THE FAGS HAVE MORE RIGHTS THEN A REAL PERSON.
GOOD LORD THE FAGS HAVE MORE RIGHTS THEN A REAL PERSON.
NO DOUBT THIS IS THOUGHT UP BY OBOZO AND THE SCUMBAG LIBERALS.
NO DOUBT THIS IS THOUGHT UP BY OBOZO AND THE SCUMBAG LIBERALS.
Excellant question………………….. Who DARES deny the muslims anything? I hope that ALL the gays/lesbians/transgenders/transsexuals/& all the freaks show up at mosques looking for a party. Yeah. That will sure be interesting. When all the muslims start crying & complaining – I'm sure they will consider changes to this injustice.
Why should a Christian gay person go to a mosque? Illogical.
Ken Thor White – to be equal – to be a pain in the ass, to push their gay agenda down the throats of ALL people who don't like it, of course. Hell, if the churches won't hold gay marriages – don't you think the gays will go EVERYWHERE it's not liked – just so they can scream how unfair it is that people don't like them & how they really SHOULD??? it's the same old – same old – whether it be muslims, gays, latinos, latinas, black (have you read up on the Trayvon Martin case yet??), Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Mexican, French, British, German, you name it – the federal government – they are ALL trying to shove stuff down our throats & demanding that we like it or else they will MAKE us like it – whether it be through the federal government or lawsuits or protests or whatever means they can (and do). I will NOT conform.
Get out and vote! If they are liberal, socialist, communist democrats they need to be sent home with their tails between their legs. (assuming they have tails…and legs….they obviously have no brains or morals.
Yeah, a lot of you folks think you have the right to tell consenting adults who they or cannot marry and you say liberals have no brains or morals? Truth is, we do have brains and are moral. And we possess something that many on the right seem to be lacking–a heart.
So, if the city council passes this law, will they then also require the church facility in question to remove any crosses, pictures, or other "religious" decorations and symbols? I'm sorry, but this "War on Christianity" has gone far beyond ridiculous.
My church rents only to members. Any gathering/function that I have been at where it took place at a church directly involved a member of said church. If you want to charge fees and whatnot for cleaning and electricity/heat/etc, then so be it. However, I also understand that in rural areas, the local church fellowship hall may be the only place to rent. On that side of things, it is still private property and owned by the church. Thus, it has the protection of private property laws and additional 1st amendment free-exercise protections.
As a gay man, who has been with his partner for 29 years, I have this to say. I do not like religion.. I think most right winging religious fanatics have a major screw loose… and most likely, religion and greed will be the doom of earth as we know it. However, in saying that… at this time in our history, I'm going to have to cross over the line into enemy territory, and stand behind the churches for their right not to allow gay marriages if they choose not to. I do not want them telling me who I can or cant marry, or having them pass laws to that effect. And I surely do not want to pass a law forcing them to have to marry me. There will be plenty of churches that will open their doors and welcome same sex couples.
First, a poem called "Todd."
Todd, so small of stature,
So small of mind.
No call of rapture?
Though yaw'll have pined.
On earth you stay,
So mad, so confined.
And so unable to tolerate.
people of a different kind.
You know what Todd, you're to journalism what Dali was to time pieces. Take, for example, your headline:
Proposed Law Would Force Churches to Host Gay Weddings.
Funny how you rouse the rabble with tricks like this. What, there is no trickery here? Oh Todd, so slight of slight of hand that you couldn't quite complete the illusion. The headline can appear to say that churches will be forced to perform gay weddings when the law says nothing of the sort. Perform gay weddings/host gay weddings. There is a difference, just not to the rabble you usually rouse.
Hey, it's so odd that you think Christianity is above the law here. A quintessentially un-American idea, that. Nope, Christianity is equal to all religions in the eyes of our Constitution. No special status for Christians no matter how desperately some of them want it.
what happened to separation of church and state. Oh I remember, only for Muslims, keeoing prayer out of the public, Christians wake up, it's only going to get worse as the minorty forces it's agenda globally. Remeber Sodom and Gomorrah.
Much ado about nothing. If passed, there will be a lawsuit and it will be quickly struck down on 1st amendment grounds. The idiot lawmakers who pass it (if they do) will have wasted taxpayer $$$ – in other words, just another day at the government office.
I really don't understand what the world is coming to…
The whole world has gone upside down. When mental children are allowed to run things, everything goes to hell.
What about the "Separation of Church and State" that commielibs are always crowing about?
You have touched on a point that is not new – the Puritans of the 16th and 17th Century argued in Massachusetts for separation of Church and State so that there could be congregational independence, so that no government could tell a congregation what to do, and that the church member could control the affairs of the church. How scarily the pendulum swings!
The Church Report.
http://www.thechurchreport.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=siteContent.default&objectID=153121
Colorado Megachurch Votes to Leave Presbyterian Church USA Over Denomination's Acceptance of Homosex.
http://www.thechurchreport.com
In an historic vote Sunday morning, the largest Presbyterian church in Colorado voted overwhelmingly to leave its governing body and join a new, more conservative denomination….
Every step they take towards removing our constitutional religious freedoms, we need to push back with two. For now, the name of this game is resistance.
This is terrible news
Dude, quit being a faggot.
Ok do they also have to accomodate Druids and Witches and Islamists and recovering Cannibals?
These are our First Amendment Rights. It won't stop here. Pray and fight.
Seriously, many of the commenters are totally missing the point, entirely. This involves renting to the general public. NOBODY that does that is allowed to discriminate unfairly. Not against blacks, women, Muslims, handicapped, etc. As ling as its not to the general public, they can keep their prejudices, as sad as they are. What the religious groups want is to foster their hate and ignorance on the general public.
The new "tolerance" is a one way street.
The militant homosexuals will not stop forming their agenda down our throat.
Just another reason to get out of 501c3
Seriously?! What happened to the left's separate church and state mantra???? Criminal….
How about renting a mosque for a good old fashioned pork BBQ! That would go over like a fart in a space suit.
I would burn my church down before allowing that to happen.
That's never gonna get passed
And you think w'ere not loosing rights…
I think the Human Relations faggot loving commision is looking for an ass whooping.This is our Country not there dictatorship style country! I smell REVOLUTION!
I live in Hutchinson, Kansas and this article is not a true reflection of what is happening here. GLTB can be fired or evicted solely for being GLTB and they have no recourse. Equal rights and protection is what this is about. The story is written to inflame fear and is not based on the reality of this issue.
I live in Hutchinson, Kansas and this article is not a true reflection of what is happening here. GLTB can be fired or evicted solely for being GLTB and they have no recourse. Equal rights and protection is what this is about. The story is written to inflame fear and is not based on the reality of this issue.
whether churches would be subject to the ordinance was one interpretation of the "public accommodations" section of the ordinance by City Attorney Paul Brown.
The city code, does not define public accommodations but refers to state law on that subject. The Kansas Human Relations Commission has interpreted the law as exempting churches and religious organizations. Brown's distinction, she said, comes into play when they rent facilities to the public.
Federal Fair Housing Law and the Americans with Disabilities Act also have their own distinct wrinkles in how they interpret whether churches are subject to anti-discrimination laws.
Bah! Humbug'
Sounds like to me that one man's beliefs is another man's discrimation. Everyone should have rights. But to force churches to allow gay marriages is just wrong. THEY have beliefs like everyone else. Gays are asking to be accepted as married couples and a lot of people DO come around to their way of thinking. OHHHH but the ones who simply won't accept it, they are accused of discriminating….it's a bunch of horse shit!
Tell it girl. You never hold back do you?
Sarah Lupton Winfrey No Sarah, I don't hold back. I think that everyone should always consider others' beliefs. I have no problem with gay marriages. To each his own. I mean does two women or two men getting married change or interfere in MY life? Nope, not one bit. But with that said I don't think it's right for "them" to intrude on a church that clearly doesn't agree and make a stink about discrimination. Simply choose a place/church that's ok with it. The government should keep their business out of the church. Since they are SO good at keeping God out of our schools.
Why would a gay couple Even consider going where they are not wanted? Uncomfortable!
Todd Starnes,
The FAQ's that you link to in this story completely debunk your article. Churches will NOT be forced to host gay weddings.
Here is a copy and paste from the very FAQ that you linked to:
Religious based groups, non-profit institutions controlled by religious associations or societies and non-profit private clubs that are not open to the public are exempt from the requirements of Chapter 3 now and would continue to be exempt should the proposed amendment become law. There is an exception to this exemption, if any of these groups open their services to the general public.
What ever happened to the "separation" of church and state? Why do those in 'power' think they can invoke that against the church /influencing/interferring/ with the state but forget the intent was to keep the STATE from controlling the church!