I will always be somewhat angry that the US gay marriage debate overwhelmingly focused on "well actually the Bible DOES support homosexuality!" instead of "your religion should not dictate whether I have the legal rights granted by marriage"

Freedom of Religion or License to Discriminate

So here is the paper I promised just a heads up it is very long. I will include the sources I used.

Freedom of Religion or License to Discriminate

         Freedom of religion has been a major part of American democracy since the country was founded. A 2015 Gallup poll indicated 52 percent of Americans considered religion a major factor in their lives. In the Constitution of the United States, it is written: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (“Religious Issues” 1). Despite this, religion still plays a major role in influencing decisions of state and federal lawmakers. This has become particularly apparent in recent religious freedom legislation proposed largely in response to the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage (“LGBTQ Rights and State Laws” 1). While these bills may have once served a useful purpose they are now only used as a license to discriminate against certain groups and should be challenged in court. 

       One of the earliest cases resulting from the marriage ruling came from Washington state, concerning a florist refusing to provide flowers for the wedding of two men. Barronelle Stutzman and Robert Ingersoll had been friends and done business for many years until he asked her to provide the flowers for his upcoming marriage to his partner (Richey 1). Stutzman refused, claiming that to participate would be a renunciation of her faith (Richey 2). The ACLU filed suit against Stutzman and her flower shop on behalf of Ingersoll and his husband. Cases resolved prior to this filing resulted in the businesses being found guilty of violating state anti-discrimination laws for not offering the same services to all couples (Richey 3).  The outcome, in this case, was similar; a judge ruled that there was a distinct difference between Stutzman’s right to believe and her freedom to act in ways affected by those beliefs and that those actions could be regulated by the government (Richey 7). Had a religious freedom bill been in place at the time it is likely the ACLU would have been unable to even file suit. Emily Chiang, legal director at ACLU of Washington stated “You have your freedom of conscience – that is your personal, private relationship with your faith – but when you decide to open a place of business other rules apply. Those rules require that you serve everyone who comes through your door, assuming they have the money to pay for it” (Richey 8). She also said that the only relevant fact, in this case, is that Stutzman refused Ingersoll’s request simply because of the gender of the person he was marrying and that her actions qualify as discrimination (Richey 8). Chiang goes on to explain that should Stutzman have been granted a religious exemption through a religious freedom bill it would equate to partial public accommodations and could lead to the most minor of services being denied on grounds of religious freedom (Richey 9). Some would say a religious freedom bill is the only way to protect business owners like Stutzman from seemingly unfair attacks by LGBT groups. In a similar case, two videographers wished to post on their website that they would not film same-sex marriage ceremonies, which a bill would have allowed (Hauser 1). However, Judge John R. Tunheim dismissed the case saying their plan would be “conduct akin to a ‘White Applicants Only’ sign that may be prohibited without implicating the First Amendment” (Hauser 3). The Judge added that putting a statement on their website telling potential patrons that a business will discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation is itself an act of discrimination and that conduct as a result of that statement is not protected by the First Amendment (Hauser 3).

         During the first six months of 2017 over 100 anti-LGBT bills were introduced in twenty-nine states. An analyst for the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), Alex Sheldon, said despite the fact that only six bills became law the number that did is important. This is already an increase from all of 2016, when approximately 220 bills of this type were introduced and only four were approved (Miller, “Onslaught of Anti-LGBT Bills” 1). The majority of those in 2017 were religious exemption bills that would allow entities to use their religious beliefs as a way to avoid enforcing the law. Four of the six bills passed in 2017 were religious exemption bills, two of which would allow state-funded adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples (Miller, “Onslaught of Anti-LGBT Bills” 2). Many Texas citizens have spoken out against these types of bills including hundreds of faith leaders. Reverend David Wynn of Fort Worth said “You tell me what Jesus would do. Jesus never said one thing about homosexuality or gender…but he did have a whole lot to say about taking care of each other.” (Miller, “Onslaught of Anti-LGBT Bills” 4).

         Religious freedom bills are also being passed in favor of religious adoption agencies that would allow agencies to refuse same-sex couples, unmarried couples, and non-Christians. Supporters claim this will expand the range of agencies so those couples could still adopt from another; those opposed claim it is state-funded discrimination (Lovett 1).  Although religious agencies have played a crucial role in the adoption and foster care systems in the United States with great success in placing children, many have shut down rather than serve unmarried or same-sex couples (Lovett 2). Some bills only allow same-sex couples to be refused service if the agency does not receive state funding (Lovett 3). The Movement Advancement Project view such laws as discrimination and released a report detailing how they harm children in the adoption and foster care systems. The report states there are approximately 428,000 children currently in foster care and more than half of the 111,000 of those children waiting to be adopted have been in the system over two years (Miller, “ACLU Lawsuit” 2-3). The report also states that the very groups these laws seek to keep from adopting children are those who are the most likely to adopt or foster. These bills may also allow an agency to place LGBT children with adults who will send them to conversion therapy programs, or allow a welfare worker with religious objections to vaccinations to refuse adoption by parents who do not share those views (Miller, “ACLU Lawsuit” 3). ACLU lawyer Leslie Cooper points out that while couples always have the option to go to another agency the children cannot and they lose the chance to be placed (Miller “ACLU Lawsuit” 4). Due to the broad writing required to keep the targeting of LGBT people from being explicit, many more problems could arise, such as a Christian agency refusing Jewish adopters or a Jewish agency denying Christian applicants (Miller “ACLU Lawsuit” 2-4).

         Formerly, religious freedom bills such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act were passed to provide protection for groups whose religious freedoms were threatened by actions of the United States government, such as Native Americans who lost their jobs due to use of peyote in religious rites, and a Muslim inmate who won a suit challenging a rule that prevented him from growing a beard. In these cases, the protection of one person’s religious rights did not interfere with the civil rights of someone else (Religious Freedom Should Not Intrude Upon the Rights of Others 1-2). The laws currently being passed are only meant to allow religious agencies and businesses to discriminate against certain groups of people while using their religion as an excuse. These religious freedom bills cause harm to U.S. citizens and seek to undermine the Constitution and the Supreme Court. Such pieces of legislation should not be allowed to pass or remain as law without being challenged in court because they are a license to discriminate.      

Works Cited

Hauser, Christine. “Judge Says Videographers can’t Cite Religion to Refuse Gay              Weddings.” New York Times, 23 Sep. 2017, pp. A.14, SIRS Issues                     Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

“LGBTQ Rights and State Laws.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale,  2017. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/app/doc/QSQWGQ847960079/OVIC?u=sumtec&xid=     bd001b76. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

Lovett, Ian. “Texas Poised to Allow Adoptions to be Blocked on Religious Basis.”                   Wall Street Journal Online, 26 May, 2017, SIRS Issues Researcher,  https://sks.sirs.com. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

Miller, Susan. “ACLU Lawsuit Targets Michigan’s Adoption Law.” Detroit Free             Press, 21 Sep, 2017, pp. A.9, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.                    Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

---. “Onslaught of Anti-LGBT Bills in 2017 has Activists ‘Playing Defense’.” USA                Today (Online), 1 June, 2017, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

“Religious Freedom Should Not Intrude Upon the Rights of Others.” Opposing                Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2017. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CHHMCM511888948/OVIC?u=sumtec&xid= 85417329. Originally published as “Mend, don’t end, a religious-freedom law,” Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2016. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017

“Religious Issues.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2016. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3021900145/OVIC?=usumtec&xid=3d2e7946. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

Richey, Warren. “A Florist Caught between Faith and Discrimination.” Christian                 Science Monitor, 15 Aug, 2016, SIRS Issues Researcher,                                           https://sks.sirs.com. Accessed 8 Nov, 2017.

Israel’s Latest Culture War Plays Out Under the Wedding Canopy

By Isabel Kershner, NY Times, Aug. 19, 2018

KIBBUTZ HULDA, Israel--There was nothing subversive about it at first glance: The bride wore white; the groom broke a glass under the wedding canopy to a hearty “Mazel Tov!”

But the couple was part of a growing rebellion playing out in tuxedos and lace as Israelis increasingly chafe at the grip of the strictly Orthodox state religious authorities over legal Jewish weddings in Israel.

Married among fig and pomegranate trees at a rural kibbutz on a recent Friday afternoon, Adam Mendelsohn-Lessel and Julia Eizenman replaced the traditional seven blessings with their own vows. Instead of a rabbi, a stage and television actor officiated, opening with a rhyming rap about how they met.

“I didn’t really want a wedding, I just wanted a party,” said Mr. Mendelsohn-Lessel, 36, who works in a factory producing coffee roasters. “I don’t like the establishment and institutions.”

Ms. Eizenman, 29, a graphic designer born in Moldova to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, would not have qualified as sufficiently Jewish to marry through the official channels without undergoing a conversion, because, legally, Jewishness is matrilineal.

Thousands of Israeli couples a year are now ignoring the legalities, bypassing the state rabbinical authority, known as the Chief Rabbinate, and marrying any way they wish.

According to a study this year, state-sanctioned rabbinical weddings decreased by about 8 percent in the past two years, and by about 15 percent in the largely secular city of Tel Aviv.

There is no civil marriage in Israel. Under a political compromise reached 70 years ago between the nation’s secular Zionist founders and the religious forces whose support they needed, the rabbinical authorities have exclusive control over marriage and divorce. The disproportionate power granted to ultra-Orthodox political parties by Israel’s coalition politics keeps the system in place.

Supporters of the system say it preserves unity by maintaining one standard of Judaism that adheres to strict Jewish law and that it protects future generations from canonical chaos.

But to register with the Rabbinate couples must qualify as Jewish. A bride has to plunge in a ritual bath before the wedding, be veiled and follow the groom to the canopy, where she routinely has a nonspeaking role. The traditional wedding contract is written in Aramaic. And if things do not work out in the end, the wife is dependent on her husband’s agreement to obtain a religious divorce.

Many young Israelis want a more egalitarian ceremony and freedom from the strictures of the rabbinical authorities leading to a surge in alternative weddings.

In a country still legislating its national identity and arguing over equality, the wedding wars also reflect broader dissent against what many here view as religious coercion.

“What we’re seeing in Israel is no less than a quiet revolution driven from the bottom up by organizations and individuals,” said Uri Keidar, executive director of Be Free Israel, an organization that advocates civil rights and pluralism and is one of several offering alternative marriages and unions.

“They have decided they are done with waiting for our politicians or the Chief Rabbinate,” he added. “Israelis, by the thousands, are reclaiming their Judaism and choosing their own path to marriage, while the political system is in stalemate.”

To wed legally, all Israelis--Jews, Muslims and Christians--face a narrow choice of marrying through their respective state religious authorities or leaving the country, often flying to nearby Cyprus for a civil ceremony. Then they register as married on their return at Israel’s Interior Ministry, where weddings performed legally abroad are recognized.

Jewish marriages performed by rabbis of the more liberal streams of Reform and Conservative Judaism, though popular in the United States, are not officially recognized in Israel. Still, some Israelis are opting for the more flexible, egalitarian ceremonies offered by Reform and Conservative rabbis. Other Israelis get a friend to marry them, or they sign a civil union agreement with a lawyer, or they register as common law spouses or simply live together.

Even a small but growing number of observant Orthodox couples are rejecting the Rabbinate and marrying according to strict Jewish law, but in private, more egalitarian ceremonies performed by maverick Orthodox rabbis.

Batya Kahana-Dror, the director of Mavoi Satum, a group that helps women who have been refused a Jewish divorce by their husbands, facilitates private, unregistered Orthodox weddings.

“It’s a civil revolution,” Ms. Kahana-Dror said. “The young religious public is very critical of the Rabbinate. Today there are options. People are voting with their feet.”

WEDDING PREP // your wedding dictionary | Anna Delores Photography

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WEDDING PREP // your wedding dictionary | Anna Delores Photography

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I joke with a lot of clients that planning a wedding equips you with an array of new vocabulary words. Many of these words you’ve never heard of, and most of them won’t apply to any other area of your life. They exist in your consciousness for wedding planning alone.

In an attempt to help you with the learning curve (and maybe get some giggles out of you, too), here is our wedding dictionary “cheat sheet” for understanding some unfamiliar words or phrases; they may have limited applicability, but are still an integral part of your introduction to the world of wedding planning.

An example of a boutonniere, worn by Tyler on the day of his wedding to Ashley in Olivella, Spain

Boutonniére // a single flower OR a small bunch of flowers, greenery, or other natural elements bound together with ribbon or twine for the groom, groomsmen, and the groom’s male family members, ushers, officiant, and/or other male attendants. It is pinned to the left-side jacket lapel. In the absence of a jacket, it can also be pinned to suspenders or a vest (also on the left side in the same general location).

Bustle // the ability to attach the train of a wedding dress to the upper part of the skirt (toward the waist), usually done after the ceremony. While a train is elegant and beautiful for the ceremony and for portraits, it’s much less practical for greeting your guests and dancing the night away. Dragging around a heavy train increases the odds of tripping over yourself, or of guests tearing the bottom hem by stepping on the train accidentally. The bustle was first introduced in the later 1860s and its purpose was to maintain the shape of a full skirt made from heavy fabrics (the larger the skirt, the smaller the appearance of a lady’s waist). Wedding dress bustles typically involve snap closures, buttons, hooks, or even ribbon ties to keep your dress from dragging on the floor after you say “I do.”

Charger // nope, not a Los Angeles football player. A charger is a fancy dish placed beneath the dinner plates, typically used during more formal, full-course meals and not meant for use with food. In modern weddings, chargers are also showing up at weddings with more a casual dining atmosphere and take different forms (like the black marble chargers Vanessa used from Borrowed Blu for our shoot at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, below).

Vanessa used black marble chargers at these place settings for something edgier and more modern than a traditional charger.

Chuppah [khoo p–uh, hoo p–uh] // a canopy above a Jewish couple during their wedding ceremony. A traditional “chuppah” or “huppah” usually has a cloth or tallit draped over four poles, and the couple stands underneath the cloth during the ceremony; the chuppah symbolizes the home they will build together in marriage. The term “chuppah” is sometimes used more casually to describe the arch or structure that a non-Jewish couple might use to stand beneath or in front of during their wedding ceremony.

Escort card // this is just a fancy name for “place cards.” Escort cards bear the names of your beloved guests and direct them to their appointed seats.

First look // also referred to as “first glance,” this isn’t my favorite term for this special moment between a bride and a groom, but it is appropriately descriptive, so it works. A “first look” is when the bride and groom opt to see each other before the ceremony, usually in a private moment between the two of them (and their photographer[s] and/or videographer[s], as well). This is a great photo opportunity used to (a) capture a more intimate “first moment together on the wedding day,” and (b) as an option for getting some photos done before the ceremony, which helps ease the rush of post-ceremony portraits and sometimes enables the bride and groom to attend cocktail hour instead of spending the entire time with their photographer. The “first look” is also a chance for couples to rid themselves of nervousness or anxiety they may be experiencing in anticipation of the ceremony itself. Read more on our thoughts about a “first look” here.

We’re pretty big fans of the “first look” as a chance to get plenty of pre-ceremony portraits.

Officiant // the person who presides over the wedding ceremony. The officiant must be ordained in the state where the wedding takes place in order for the union to be legally recognized.

Processional // this begins the ceremony when the bridal party (also the officiant, parents, grandparents, etc.) enters the ceremony area, usually walking down the aisle.

Recessional // this closes the ceremony; the same people who walked down the aisle for the processional leave the ceremony by walking back up the aisle (following the bride and groom after their first kiss as husband and wife).

Save the Date // a greeting card or postcard sent to wedding guests in advance of the formal wedding invitation. The tradition of “save the dates” was initiated to alert out-of-town guests of the date of the wedding so they could make appropriate travel arrangements. These days, many couples send “save the date” cards even if their guests are mostly local, and sometimes use photos from their engagement session to adorn the card or postcard.

Sweetheart table // a dining table reserved for just the bride and groom. A sweetheart table is an alternative to the more traditional “head table,” which typically seated the bride, groom, wedding party, and sometimes parents and immediate family members.

Valerie & Joey’s sweetheart table at their Walnut Grove wedding in May.

Toss bouquet // your florist may create an additional, smaller bouquet for you to use for the bouquet toss toward the end of the reception. This is an especially good idea if your bouquet is on the large side, or you want to keep it for preservation.

Toss garter // if the bride’s garter has sentimental value (for example, a family heirlooms or an expensive purchase she may wish to keep), she might also wear a “toss garter,” which is a smaller, less expensive (usually elastic lace) garter that the groom can remove and toss toward the end of the reception.

Usher // usually selected from male friends or family members, though modern weddings have female ushers, too. Wedding ushers greet guests upon their arrival at the wedding ceremony site, showing them to their seats (whether assigned or open) and handing out programs. It’s also helpful for the usher to know where the restrooms are located, where to find refreshments, and which side is traditionally reserved for the bride (left for a Christian ceremony, right for a Jewish ceremony) and which is reserved for the groom (right for a Christian ceremony, left for a Jewish ceremony). Most wedding planners will recommend a minimum of one usher for every 50 wedding guests.

Wedding party // all attendants of the bride and groom, including the maid/matron of honor, best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, and ring bearer. This is also sometimes referred to as the “bridal party,” but the dudes are still included (not just the ladies, despite the term “bridal”).

The bridesmaids and flower girl at Stephanie and Eli’s Fig House wedding make up just part of the wedding party; also included are groomsmen and ring bearers.

How did we do? Are there wedding terms we missed that are still foreign to you? Ask us in the comments and we’ll update the post!

Article Source: Anna Delores Photography

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