a) Do we acknowledge the fact that there are numerous civil marriage licenses granted every year to heterosexual couples who would be denied a marriage in your standard conservative church? (These would include interfaith marriages as well as marriages between couples previously married and divorced.)

b) Do we acknowledge the fact that all sorts of religious institutions and agencies who accept state funds or believers acting on behalf of the government have been mandated by law to treat these couples in the same manner they couples who WOULD be permitted to marry in a church?

c) Do we acknowledge the fact that few, if any, conservatives who insist they’re acting out of conscience when seeking to discriminate against gay couples have expressed an interest in discriminating against these other couples who are also violating the laws of their particular denomination? When was the last time you heard of a Catholic city clerk refusing to grant a marriage license to a Catholic man and a Jewish woman out of “conscience”? When was the last time a city employee refused to issue a decree of divorce that was being requested for unbiblical reasons? I’ve not heard of a single instance amongst the millions of both occurrences in this nation. NOT ONE.

See, when you talk about this being a matter of moral principle, well, the complete lack of consistency makes some of us question that claim.

Look, I am willing to fight for freedom of speech in both the public and private sphere for anyone who opposes homosexual conduct, Christian or otherwise. Further, where federal and state nondiscrimination laws regarding one’s choice of religion do not apply, neither should they for sexual orientation. However, this does not mean your religious opinions grant you an exemption from treating all citizens equally under the law.