Gay Marriage 1, Religious Freedom 0

We’ve written multiple times on the coming clash between religious groups that do not recognize the legitimacy of gay marriages or civil unions and gay couples and activists who think they should be forced too. A recent court decision in New Jersey serves as a case in point:

The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights ruled that the refusal of the church group, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist organization that owns a square mile of beachfront property in Ocean Grove, near Asbury Park, to rent the spot to the couple violated the public accommodation provisions of the state’s Law Against Discrimination.

While the ruling decisively favors the couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, it does not end the case, which has become a major symbol in the gay rights battle in New Jersey and beyond.
An administrative law judge still must decide on a remedy for the parties.

“What this case has always been about from my clients’ perspective has been equality,” said Larry Lustberg, a lawyer for the couple. He said they would seek an order that required the pavilion to be “open to all on an equal basis.”

Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., group that represents the Camp Meeting Association, said his clients would resist allowing civil unions on the property.

“Our position is the same,” he said. “A Christian organization has a Constitutional right to use their facilities in a way that is consistent with their beliefs.”