Bill would allow pastors to refuse to marry same-sex couples

The Ohio House of Representatives heard testimony Tuesday in favor of a bill that would allow churches to deny performing same-sex marriages.

Dubbed the “pastor protection act,” proponents of the bill say that its passage would be a way of “protecting religious freedom.”

The measure was introduced by State Senator Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision of gay marriage.

“This is not an issue of discrimination,” Vitale said. “It is an issue of protection; protection for those who have committed their lives to the service of God and their community.”

As many as thirty proponents testified in favor of the bill.

Larry Gearhart, pastor of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Urbana, said his main concern was not the prevention of same-sex marriage outside the church, but instead the preservation of the church’s autonomy from the state.

Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) asked Gearhart if he’d ever been asked to perform a same-sex marriage. Gearhart said he hadn’t.

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