The United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns has issued a statement on gay marriage and is asking for members of the UCC to support it by becoming signers.

Marriage falls into two categories: civil and religious. Currently, these categories are being blurred and confused.

As a civil right, marriage should be accessible to all committed couples in the United States of America. The Coalition is unequivocal: all the rights and responsibilities of marriage need to be accessible to any couple who is of legal age and willing to assent to them. Civil rights must pertain and apply to all persons, not just to an exclusive group.

The Coalition applauds the decision in Massachusetts that makes marriage accessible to all heterosexual and same-sex couples. We urge all states to make similar decisions. We further urge that work be done on the federal level to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 which legalizes discrimination by denying on a federal level the civil right of marriage to same-sex couples.

As a religious rite, marriage takes place in the broader context of love, community and justice. In this theological context four things are evident:

1. Any conversation about marriage needs to affirm that marriage’s purpose and focus is always love, wholeness, justice and equality. We give thanks to God when marriage is a covenant which reflects God’s covenant with us.

2. However, any conversation about marriage needs also to take seriously the history of domestic violence, oppression of women and children and the misuse of the institution (including its historic racism).

3. Any conversation about marriage needs to de-centralize marriage as the only expression of covenant and commitment between adults. God has given to us many forms of relationship: community, friendship, family bonds, etc. Scripture gives us examples of all of these as holy and blessed: the relationships between David and Jonathan and Ruth and Naomi, the notion of the “People of God” and that of the “Body of Christ,” for example.

4. Any conversation about marriage must take seriously the reality that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) and heterosexual people have made conscious choices to covenant with one another in ways other than civil or religious marriage. These covenants should also be honored and celebrated.

As The Coalition Council, we urge all Coalition and United Church of Christ members, all faith communities and society to engage intentionally and thoughtfully in conversation about civil and religious marriage, so that love and justice may abound for all people.

You can learn more and sign-on to the statement by clicking here.