Ky. Church Protests Marriage Inequality

A Disciples of Christ church in Louisville, Ky., will no longer sign marriage licenses, in an action that protests the lack of marriage equality for gay couples.

The Douglass Boulevard Christian Church’s congregation approved the action unanimously Sunday, Louisville TV station WHAS reports. The church’s clergy will still perform marriage ceremonies for both straight and gay couples and will help straight couples find a civil servant to sign their license.

The previous system amounted to “saying to the gays and lesbians in our church, ‘Sorry, we’ll do parts of things for you but not the whole thing,’” senior minister Derek Penwell told the station. He pointed out the many benefits that gay couples do not receive because governmental bodies do not recognize their unions, and this is the church’s way to express its opposition to such inequality.

The move is in keeping with previous actions taken by the congregation. Members voted in 2008 to become an Open and Affirming Community of Faith, the designation for LGBT-friendly churches within the Disciples of Christ denomination.

Read more and watch WHAS’s report here.