Democratic Underground - NY Ministers charged for marrying gays in religious ceremony

Wow, talk about heavy-handed -- and a violation of the separation of church and state!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20040315/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_ny

KINGSTON, N.Y. - Two ministers were charged with criminal offenses Monday for marrying 13 gay couples — apparently the first time in U.S. history that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies.

District Attorney Donald Williams said gay marriage laws make no distinction between public officials and members of the clergy who preside over wedding ceremonies.

Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with solemnizing a marriage without a license, the same charges leveled against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who last month drew the state into the widening national debate over same-sex unions.

Each charge carries a fine of $25 to $500 or up to a year in jail.

"As far as I know that's unprecedented," said Mark Shields, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based gay rights group. "It's ridiculous that prosecutors would spend their time charging anyone with a crime who is simply trying to unite two people with basic rights and protections."

Welcome to Dubya's America -- where you can do insider trading and steal people's retirement accounts and never go to jail. But be a pastor who marries two men or two women in a religious ceremony, and have your freedom of religion violated and get arrested immediately.

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