I think this is the best news I’ve heard all day. Religious liberty is now protected for government officials who don’t want to violate their faith by marrying gay couples:
REUTERS – Government officials in North Carolina can refuse to perform same-sex marriages by citing religious objections under a new law pushed through on Thursday by the Republican-led legislature, which voted to override the governor’s veto.
The law protects the jobs of magistrates and other officials who refuse to perform marriages of gay couples by citing a “sincerely held religious objection.”
Governor Pat McCrory, also a Republican, had said the officials who swore to defend the Constitution and perform their duties of office should not be exempt from upholding their oath.
The state House of Representatives on Thursday overrode his veto by reaching the three-fifths majority in a 69-41 vote. The state Senate held a similar vote earlier this month.
North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement after the vote that the law “protects sincerely held religious beliefs while also ensuring that magistrates are available in all jurisdictions to perform lawful marriages.”
Once they have asked to opt out in writing, magistrates would be barred from performing any marriage, gay or heterosexual, for six months.
Of course, gay activists are upset at this law which just proves they don’t want gays to just get married, they want complete and utter religious surrender to the gay agenda:
Gay rights advocates said a court challenge is expected.
“This bill, which will now become law, is discriminatory and treats gay and lesbian couples as second class citizens,” Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the executive director of the advocacy group Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement.
I think Gov. McCrory just put himself in hot water vetoing this law. I’m grateful that the NC legislature stood up for religious liberty when the governor wouldn’t.