Marriage Equality: Testimony

There is an alert about Marriage Equality at the bottom from the Friends Committee on WA Public Policy. This post is a rough draft for something Friends in RantWoman's Meeting are seasoning. There is a timeliness element which is why RantWoman is posting the top as rough draft.

Testimony
University Meeting has been taking same-sex and heterosexual marriages equally under our care for many years, having come to unity in our meetings for worship and business that this is what the Spirit calls us to do. But many people who've come to Meeting in recent years don't know about the deep and long spiritual discernment process which we went through, and so are less than fully prepared to talk to people in person, or via social media, about what we do and why. If you would like to help craft a more detailed collection of previous testimony about our history and numerous statements supporting our testimony in this area, please leave a comment.

Short history
University Friends Meeting was one of the first Monthly Meetings in the Religious Society of Friends to take same-gender relationships under its care. The first time this occurred was in the 1980’s and this Meeting has long been on record in support of full Marriage equality. Here we offer some excerpts from our many minutes and public statements.

Do you participate in discussions about marriage equality with friends or neighbors? Do you participate in discussions about marriage equality through social media? We want to know, are there any resources that would help you tell the story of our Meeting’s history or that speak to modern conversations about this? If you have ideas or questions, please leave a comment and RantWoman will either address herself or enthusiastically help route


Marriage and Commitment
from North Pacific Yearly Meeting1993 Faith and Practice http://www.npym.org/fnp/index.html

THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY of an individual can be enhanced and strengthened in a loving, committed relationship. Some call the relationship marriage; some call it by another name. Friends have long recognized that some couples are called into a covenant relationship, a ministry of caring, which with Divine assistance may open the door to deep and unreserved love, to forgiveness, to sharing strengths, to trust and to the nurture of each other’s growth.

Early Friends recognized that the joining of two people in such a covenant relationship “is the work of the Lord only, and not the priests’ or magistrates; for it is God’s ordinance and not man’s; and therefore Friends cannot consent that they should join them together: for we marry none; it is the Lord’s work, and we are but witnesses.” (George Fox, 1669)

When a couple feels called into such a covenant relationship, they seek clearness with their Meeting. When the Meeting finds clearness in the couple, and clearness within the Meeting to take their relationship under the care of the Meeting, a Meeting for Worship is specially called in which the couple publicly affirm and celebrate their lifetime commitment to one another.

Monthly Meetings within the Yearly Meeting have a variety of responses to accepting the role of clearness and oversight of committed relationships and marriages. … A number of Meetings choose to leave the naming of the relationship and the celebration to the couple.


Coming Under the Care of the Meeting:
Before taking a couple’s relationship under its care a Meeting, through a Clearness Committee, counsels with the partners, seeking to establish their clearness in what they are undertaking. If the committee so recommends, and the Meeting agrees, the relationship and the couple are taken under the care of the Meeting. This means that the couple is surrounded by a loving community which may take action as necessary to support the well being of the two individuals, of the relationship itself, and of any children who may be, or become, involved.

A couple, regardless of sexual orientation, comes under the care of a Monthly Meeting in any of the following ways: first, through the clearness process which precedes the marriage or celebration; second, by the Meeting members attending the celebration and witnessing the vows; third, through the care, support, and guidance given to every couple in the Meeting throughout their lifetime journey.


2012: One of the always-cited arguments against gay marriage is the opposition of Christians and other people of faith. we not only endorse the gay marriage law, but feel that this is a position we must take as a religious testimony. We have as a faith community recognized, for many years, the God-given, sacramental basis of many committed same-sex relationships, and witness to this when we take same-sex marriages under our meeting's care. Tthis is similar in nature to our historic testimonies against slavery and racism, and in favor of women's rights.

1997 Letter to the Governor of WA:

Our faith community has spent many years in prayer and dialogue regarding issues of marriage and family. One result of our faithful work has been that we approve wholly of the married union of same gendered couples. This position was taken as a result of listening for Divine guidance and seeking the Truth as best we could. Thus we do believe that God desires and accepts fully those couples, heterosexual or homosexual, who make loving commitments towards each other. We take this stand for marriage as a spiritual and personal commitment within a faith community.

As a result of this stand, it is our practice to approve and perform marriage and ceremonies of commitment for same-gendered couples. These couples we accept fully as a part of our community. We know them to be deeply committed to each other and loving parents. They are essential to the strength of our community and are often models of love and care. In addition to offering these couples our spiritual support, we feel it is important that homosexual marriages be granted civil status equal to that granted to heterosexual couples. Friends believe that everyone is a child of God and should be related to in those terms. … We see clear benefits in granting equal civil recognition of same sex marriage. The legal and financial stability of such social recognition offered to couples creates a more stable union and, for those who choose to parent, greater stability for their children as well.

Over the years of our consideration of this issue we did struggle. We prayed and "held each other in the Light" even when we disagreed. The result of all of this has strengthened our community. We are still growing and learning, but we have what we believe is a truer sense of love, family, commitment and community.


A historical note from a modern blog also about legal recognition of Quaker families:

The original purpose of a Quaker marriage certificate was to provide public recognition of the act of marriage. It was signed by everyone present to give legal weight to the public declaration by showing that it was witnessed by lots of people. The certificate could be presented by the meeting to a magistrate to show that the couple’s children were not bastards and that they could hold property together and bequeath it to them, and so subvert the challenges of disaffected relatives.

http://sheffieldquakers.blogspot.com/2012/05/same-sex-marriage-and-weddings.html


Resources outside our Meeting:

Friends Committee for WA Public Policy
http://www.fcwpp.org/
WA United for Marriage http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/
Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, http://www.flgbtqc.org/


Decline to Sign / Vote YES FCWPP Alert on Marriage Equality

Friends Committee on WA Public Policy
Alert in Support of Washington State’s Marriage Equality Law

FCWPP endorses the Washington United for Marriage coalition and its efforts to uphold Washington’s Marriage Equality Law. Specifically, we support the effort by this coalition to collect pledges stating, “I support marriage equality for all loving, committed couples in Washington State. I pledge to approve Referendum 74.” We encourage you to visit  http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/  and pledge your support today. Physical pledge cards are also available to circulate and return to the coalition office.

BACKGROUND

On February 13, 2012, Governor Gregoire signed into law ESSB 6239, permitting same‐sex couples to marry in Washington State and thus ending marriage discrimination against certain loving, committed couples. This law is consistent with Friends’ testimony of equality and with the attached Minute approved by North Pacific Yearly Meeting 15 years ago, in 1997. FCWPP stood with others in supporting this legislation and has celebrated the action of the legislature and governor.  However, some citizens of Washington are circulating petitions to collect signatures for Referendum 74, in the hope of overturning this law. The way a referendum works is that before it goes into effect those who oppose a law passed by the legislature and signed by the governor may solicit signatures to place it on the ballot for a vote. Then they attempt to overturn it with a majority REJECT vote. Thus those of us who support the Marriage Equality Law are in a curious position:

1. It is in our interest not to sign a petition to put Referendum 74 on the ballot, but

2. If Referendum 74 does qualify for the ballot, then we would vote APPROVE it.

Those promoting the referendum need to deliver 120,577 signatures to the Secretary of State by June 6, 2012. If they do not, the law will go into effect on June 7, 2012. As part of the effort to uphold the law, Washington United for Marriage seeks to obtain more pledges supporting marriage equality than signers on Referendum 74. The support demonstrated by  these pledges will be used to counter negative messaging that turning in referendum signatures could create. FCWPP  supports this effort to help create the momentum needed to pass Referendum 74, if it gets on the ballot.

Meetings and other organizations may endorse this effort to sustain marriage equality at

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/about/ . Individual Friends and others may also pledge their support online at

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/ . Washington United for Marriage has a variety of suggestions for supporting  marriage equality and efforts to sustain the current law.

One final point. In the future, there may be an additional effort to place Initiative 1192 on the ballot. This would be another way to overturn the Marriage Equality Law. Friends who support marriage equality should also avoid signing petitions to place this measure on the ballot. Should it appear on the ballot, a NO vote would support marriage equality.

To summarize the main points: FCWPP recommends that Friends

1. Do not sign a petition to get Referendum 74 on the ballot
2. Do circulate and sign the Washington United for Marriage pledge to support marriage equality
3. If Referendum 74 gets on the ballot, vote to APPROVE
4. As you are led, ask your meeting to support marriage equality
‐‐ The FCWPP Legislative Committee