Certificate of Inequality

"I issue this Certificate of Inequality to you," the document reads, in part, "Because your choice of marriage partner displeases some people whose displeasure is, apparently, more important than principles of equality."

Thank you, Yolo County clerk Freddie Oakley. She is an evangelical Christian who believes in equal rights, and thinks that gay couples should be allowed be married, and this is her act of civil disobedience done in defense of those rights.

Consider that, dear Pagans, the next time you lump all Christians in the same group as Pat Robertson and the radical right.

The Surf Putah blog wrote this about Freddie in 2007:

An evangelical Christian who strongly supports the separation of church and state - "[...] I’m not happy about enforcing a law that is discriminatory and based on religious principles,” [...] “Religion has no place in government.” - Oakley confuses the standard media narrative that places religious folks on one side and those who support a religiously neutral secular state on the other. In reality, this is not solely an issue of religious versus secular values, but also a question of whether the state will enforce one side in a sectarian dispute; to wit, whether the state will tell Unitarians, Quakers and Congregationalists that the same sex couples that they marry are not married unless the Southern Baptists and Fundamentalists agree to it. Additionally, these laws conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause, which guarantees all citizens the same rights under law. As Rich Rifkin points out in the comments after the Davis Vanguard article, it is illegal to deny business licenses to a gay or lesbian owner because of their sexual orientation; how then can it be legally defensible to deny them the legal right to marry other consenting adults?

You go, girl.

As of this writing, these couples still cannot get married and Freddie continues to give out her certificates. She has offered to pay for the marriage licenses for these gay couples (some of whom have been together over 30 years) when their union finally becomes legal.

Let's hope that day comes soon.

Sia

Links:

Freddie Oakley Under Fire From Religious Extremists

Freddie Speaks Out

Related Articles:

The Christians and the Pagans

The Radical Christian Right is Built On Suburban Dispair

Song & Viedo:

Dar Williams on Youtube singing The Christians and the Pagans