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Showing posts with the label LGBT wedding

Court Rules Photographer Has The Right To Choose Which Events To Celebrate

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Our country is big enough for a wide variety of beliefs and viewpoints to coexist peacefully.  Thankfully, today a federal district court recognized this when it ruled in favor of Chelsey Nelson, a creative professional in Louisville, Kentucky.  Chelsey is a wedding photographer and blogger. She is also a Christian and tries to live her life in a way that honors God, including through her business. That means Chelsey can only use her artistic talents to participate in and celebrate weddings that are consistent with her religious beliefs—that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Chelsey respects and serves everyone, but she cannot celebrate every event or promote every message that is asked of her. For Chelsey, it’s all about what she is asked to create, not who asks her to create. But city officials in Louisville have failed to understand that distinction. Louisville officials interpret a local ordinance to force Chelsey to photograph and blog celebratory messages a...

Photographer doesn't have to shoot gay weddings, DOJ says

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with the Kentucky-based wedding photographer’s First Amendment right to refuse service for same-sex couples, according to an official statement issued by the government agency Thursday. “The First Amendment forbids the government from forcing someone to speak in a manner that violates individual conscience,” Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said about the ruling. “The U.S. Department of Justice will continue to protect the right of all persons to exercise their constitutional right to speech and expression.” Louisville resident Chelsey Nelson initially filed her lawsuit against the Jefferson Country Metro Government in U.S. District Court last year over the city’s Fairness Ordinance – which was originally enacted to minimize discrimination based on sexual orientation – saying the law violated her freedom of speech and religion. Nelson said she refus...

Russia expels US clergyman over plans to officiate gay wedding

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An American clergyman in the Ukraine was deported for planning to  officiate a gay wedding. Jim Mulcahy, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, was arrested at the LGBT center Avers in Samara. The Kremlin’s   Vesti News Channel   reported that Mulcahy intended to marry LGBT couples and engage in gay propaganda, a violation of his tourist visa.  Mulcahy is the Metropolitan Community Churches' Eastern Europe Coordinator.  His arrest was videotaped by state-controlled television (NTV). He denies planning to officiate a gay "marriage" but reportedly performed "unspecified ceremonies for homosexuals."  Sodomy is no longer illegal in Russia, as it was during the communist years. However, Russia passed a   law   in 2013 banning propagandizing minors to the homosexual lifestyle.  In a   video   interview with an LGBT organization, Mulcahy is introduced as a "gay priest" and calls himself "Father James Mulcahy." In the interv...