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TRENTON -- Attorney
General Stuart Rabner today issued written
advice to the State Registrar of Vital
Statistics concluding that, once a
New Jersey law
authorizing civil unions takes effect on
February 19, members of the clergy may legally
decline to perform civil union ceremonies if
doing so would conflict with "sincerely held
religious beliefs."
Writing to help
ensure uniform statewide practices, Rabner
reiterated earlier advice that no public
official is compelled by law to perform either
marriages or civil unions, but that those who
choose to perform marriage ceremonies must also
be available to perform civil unions or face
possible legal action for violating the New
Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD).
The Attorney General
noted, however, that the LAD does not apply to
the administration of religious rites by clergy
members.
"As a result, there
is no statutory bar to a member of the clergy
declining to solemnize civil unions in
accordance with sincerely held religious
beliefs, even though that religious figure
regularly solemnizes marriages," the Attorney
General wrote in a seven-page opinion letter to
Registrar of Vital Statistics Joseph Komosinski.
According to Rabner,
discriminatory treatment of same-sex and
mixed-gender couples by mayors and other public
officials would "raise significant equal
protection concerns under the State
Constitution." However, the Attorney General
noted that clergy members "should not be viewed
as public actors in these circumstances" and
that "a religious ceremony is not necessary for
the solemnization of either a marriage or a
civil union."
The Attorney General
thanked Assistant Attorney General Patrick
DeAlmeida for his work on this matter. |
