“We are disappointed that the many thousands of gay and lesbian couples in Virginia who seek legal recognition of their love will not yet have their day, but we know that day is coming. We are determined to carry on our work to help everyone in Virginia be ready for it. It is only a delay not an end.”
With those words, Rev. Robin Gorsline, president of People of Faith for Equality in Virginia (POFEV) – responding to the stay issued by Chief Justice John Roberts and the U.S. Supreme Court on the mandate of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for marriage equality in Virginia – vowed that the interfaith movement for lgbt equality will continue its work to help congregations and clergy become ever more welcoming and inclusive and to work across Virginia to make all corners of the Commonwealth more welcoming and inclusive also.
POFEV has released a growing list of clergy across Virginia who have stated they stand ready to conduct legally recognized marriages of gay and lesbian couples and will continue to conduct religious marriages until Virginia’s ban on legal recognition is struck down.
“Every day we see growing support for legal equality for lgbt Virginians in Virginia’s faith community. Clergy across the state have been vocal in asking the state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples that they officiate,” Gorsline continued.
“We see the day coming when legal discrimination in all these forms has ended—not only in marriage but also in employment discrimination, adoption and foster care, and harsh and harmful so-called “therapies” that claim to cure young people of an illness they do not have. Love continues to change the world.”
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