Some Las Vegas Chapels Declining to Perform Same-Sex Weddings
According to the LA Times, some wedding chapels in Las Vegas are declining to perform same-sex weddings.
Same-sex marriage became legal by default in Nevada earlier this month, when the U.S. Supreme Court opted not to review a lower court’s ruling that struck the state’s marriage laws. Now some wedding chapel owners are declining to marry same-sex couples due to the owners’ religious convictions about marriage.
This is significant, because Nevada has a “public accommodation” law mandating “full and equal enjoyment” of public services regardless of sexual-orientation. Similar laws have been used against florists, bakers, and photographers who have declined to participate in same-sex weddings in other states. Because of this law, some are alleging that it is actually illegal for a wedding chapel owner in Nevada to turn away a same-sex couple.
We have written before about how these types of “nondiscrimination” laws carry unintended consequences. Proponents say the laws are necessary to prevent someone from being fired or denied service at a restaurant due to sexual-orientation. In reality, however, these so-called “nondiscrimination” statutes are used to force people of faith to participate in same-sex weddings, receptions, and similar ceremonies they find objectionable.