North Carolina lawmakers approved a measure permitting magistrates to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if they have moral objections. Conservative Governor Pat McCrory vetoed the measure. On Thursday, June 11, 2015 the state House overturned the veto and made the Religious Freedom Bill state law. The state Senate had previously voted to overturn the veto.
North Carolina and Utah are the only states that have implemented protections for officials with religious objections to same-sex “marriage.” State law permits the chief district judge or the county register of deeds to also issue same-sex wedding licenses, which allows magistrates with objections to be exempt from issuing the licenses.
Two local magistrates in the state, Thomas Holland and Gilbert Breedlove, had resigned under threat of prosecution because they refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts had directly ordered them to perform same-sex weddings and threatened them with the loss of their jobs and criminal prosecution for refusing to do so. “A failure to do so would be violation of the U.S. Constitution under the federal ruling and would constitute a violation of the oath and a failure to perform a duty of the office,” said the court office. Holland and Breedlove are suing the state to get their jobs back with back pay and benefits as well as a permanent injunction recognizing their religious freedom. North Carolina legalized same-sex marriage in October 2014 and almost immediately the struggle over religious liberty ensued.
Governor McCrory is a conservative that objects to same-sex marriage. But he insisted that nobody should be exempt from the law. This distorted view of the law is a serious problem. Religious accommodation has been a key pillar of the U.S. Constitution from its inception. “It’s hard to believe that any governor – much less a conservative one – would veto a bill protecting the religious freedoms of his constituents,” said North Carolina Values Coalition Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald. For that matter, anyone in key leadership posts, whether a governor, lawmaker or magistrate charged with implementing the law and protecting the U.S. Constitution or the constitutions of the states, should be familiar with the core value and legal framework that includes religious accommodation.
The battle in North Carolina is not over. Homosexual rights activists promised litigation over the new law. Activists do not want accommodation for religious objections concerning their lifestyle.
Note that as the struggle over marriage continues, the battle has migrated largely from defending traditional marriage through constitutional amendments, referendums and court action to defending religious freedoms. America is headed into the moral equivalent of Sodom. Will this bring on the judgments of God?
“And they said, Stand back. And they said [again], This one [fellow] came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, [even] Lot, and came near to break the door.” Genesis 19:9
Source Reference