3rd
Time to Take a Deep Breath
New Hampshire has just become the sixth state to allow marriage equality. The lion’s share of debate in N.H., as I understand it, was over whether religious institutions (churches, ministers, etc.) would be obligated under the law to perform and recognize same-sex marriages.
I can only imagine how imposing it must be for a religious institution that honestly doesn’t approve of same-sex marriage to be forced to recognize and perform them. I find it hard to respect the same-sex couple that would force a church into being an unwilling participant in this deeply personal and shared ceremony. In fact, I believe such a couple doesn’t actually exist.
As this NYTimes article points out, there are those who believe that the
language adopted by New Hampshire and several other states does not go far enough because it protects only religious groups and their employees. New Hampshire’s same-sex marriage bill does not exempt photographers or florists, for example, from having to provide services at gay weddings.
No one will use their wedding day as an opportunity to pay, offend and then aggravate a photographer who will inevitably under-perform at this important job. In fact, the wedding industry is almost unanimously excited about the increase in business they’ll see. But fundamentally this stuff really isn’t what’s important here. Everyone involved in this debate needs to take a deep breadth. We need to take a minute to understand the personal feelings of our opponents, and create laws that codify this respect.
