Is this a preview of coming attractions for the United States? So much for same sex marriage not interfering with religious freedom. We have already had a Californian lesbian couple win a law suit against a Hawaiian bed & breakfast whose owner didn’t allow them to make a reservation because she didn’t feel comfortable allowing homosexual activity in her home due to her religious views. Sen. Ted Cruz. is right about gay marriage leading to a slippery slope which puts the First Amendment at risk. -Alexis
By Billy Hallowell Via The Blaze -Gay Couple Set to Sue Church of England Over Refusal to Offer Same-Sex Nuptials-
With Britain’s legalization of same-sex marriage will likely also come a legal battle for the Church of England. Following the queen’s blessing of gay nuptials, one couple is going to challenge at least one religious denomination that refuses to marry homosexuals.With the Church of England and the Catholic Church refusing to opt-in to officiating same-sex marriages, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, a well-known gay advocate, told the Essex Chronicle he is planning to challenge the former institution in court.
Barrie, who joined into a civil partnership with a man named Tony in 2006, says he’s a practicing Christian who is less-than-content with the churches’ views. The couple has five children.
“It is like someone giving me a sweetie with the wrapper on and telling me to suck it,” he said. “We are happy for gay marriage to be recognized — in that sense it is a big step. But it is actually a small step because it is something we still cannot actually do.”
Barrie wants to convince the church that recognizing gay marriages is the right thing to do. Since he says he’s a Christian and that his kids, as a result, are also practicing believers, churches, in his view, should acknowledge his union.
“I want to go into my church and marry my husband,” he added. “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church.”
Barrie said that it would be a shame to take Christians to court and that he doesn’t want to force anyone to allow him to marry. Still, he seemed open to using the courts to accomplish this goal.
The Gay Star News reported the couple has hired lawyers to potentially battle the Church of England in court. The government, however, claims that churches are protected from being forced to marry same-sex couples. Still, Barrie and Tony plan to forge on, as they told GSN:
“[It] is a matter of opinion. There are legal pathways to go down and before we make a conclusive step forward we have to explore every avenue. We have been speaking to very senior legal advisors with Cannon Law experience who feel that there actually may be a case to answer.
What the outcome maybe, is another question. We shall have to wait and see, but at the end of the day, the pressure will be highly visible and the church will be in the spot light again for discrimination against the same-sex community.”
So, based on these media accounts, a lawsuit may soon be afoot.
This story follows debate in America and, most recently, controversial comments from Sen. Ted Cruz. The Texas Republican sparked debate last month when he told CBN’s David Brody that the push in favor of same-sex unions in America could put First Amendment protections at risk.
“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced,” Cruz said of hate speech regulations that are in place in other countries.
“It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage and that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech — as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government,” he added.
While some will see Barrie and Tony’s legal fight as a valiant effort to legalize gay unions, others will likely agree with Cruz that the issue could spark concerns, even in America. Still, as the British government has said, churches are protected and cannot be forced to marry same-sex couples. How this plays out in practice once wedding start in Britain next year remains to be seen. The Blaze.
Props to ShowbizSimon for the Video
Queen Of Liberty™ 
“So much for same sex marriage not interfering with religious freedom. ”
People can sue for anything. You shouldn’t be concerned unless they win. And as Catholic churches (for one example) are not being forced to marry Jews and atheists, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
Thanks for your comment. The lesbian couple won the law suit against the Bed & Breakfast.
That’s different. A religious organization can keep their religious activities to their own religion. A B&B is not a religious organization and cannot be discriminatory in the same way.
The first amendment applies to every individual and every business. It wasn’t meant only for religious organizations and churches.
“The first amendment applies to every individual and every business.”
Sorry, but there are non-discrimination laws as well.
You’re free to have a religion that says black people are inferior, for example, but you can’t discriminate against them. And the same is true of homosexuals.
Rights are from God, not a government, other men or the law. You can’t equate skin color with a behavior. You could build a better case that Christians are being discriminated against in today’s society. Judges were meant to uphold the Constitution. Now, most of them are nothing more than activists with an agenda.
“You can’t equate skin color with a behavior. ”
It isn’t a behavior. It’s who these people are, as much as race is.
“You could build a better case that Christians are being discriminated against in today’s society.”
No, you really couldn’t. Unless you changed the meaning of the word ‘discriminate’ to ‘not getting special treatment any more’. And even then, they still get a lot of special treatment.
“these people?” SMH
You cannot truly discriminate against sexuality because, unlike gender and skin color, it is neither a fixed quality nor an immediately obvious one. Sexuality is highly subjective. Comparing sexuality to gender or race is logically unsound and an intellectually dishonest comparison.
SSM isn’t even legal in Hawaii. Most people run B&Bs out of their homes. A Christian who doesn’t want sodomy going on in their home, possibly even under the same roof as their children, isn’t asking for special treatment. The left is certainly at war with people of the Christian or Jewish faith.
” it is neither a fixed quality nor an immediately obvious one. ”
So you can choose to be gay?
When did you choose to be straight?
“A Christian who doesn’t want sodomy going on in their home, possibly even under the same roof as their children, isn’t asking for special treatment.”
So straight sex would be fine, but sodomy has magical powers that will infect their children?
I’ve known men in marriages with good sex lives for decades who suddenly started being attracted to men and left their wives. I’ve known both males and females who experimented with homosexuality and bi- sexuality in college and then became 100% straight as adults. There are straight men who go to jail and perform homosexual acts while they are locked up who then never look at a man again once they are free. There have been gay people who claim to have turned straight once they found a certain religion. It can be fluid for some people if not all people. It’s nothing like gender or skin color. The American culture and Hollywood has promoted and glamorized homosexuality over the past fifty years and they are starting to promote group sex and polygamy now as well. It’s not about magical powers that influence children but everyone has the right to raise their children with values and morality if they so choose. Some B&Bs are not okay with unmarried heterosexual couple staying in the same room. Why not simply stay somewhere else instead of suing? It’s because the same sex marriage movement has always been about attacking people of faith.
I’m a constitutional lawyer and many of the same sex marriage cases infringe on the religious liberties of others.