Rev. Neil Carrick will be the featured luncheon speaker at the Libertarian Party of Michigan (LPM) State Convention on Saturday May 9th at the Holiday Inn West, 2747 S 11th St., Kalamazoo MI. He is scheduled to speak at 12:45pm. The public is welcome, and may register at their website: MichiganLP.org.
Reverend Carrick and his supporters may be serving Governor Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette with a complaint regarding their lawsuit against the State of Michigan over Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality. He alleges state law violates his right to religious freedom by barring him from conducting same-sex and polygamous marriages.
The Lawsuit was originally filed on January 12th in Federal Court in Detroit Michigan.
They are asking the Attorney General to await the DeBoers v. Snyder before the United States Supreme Court decision which they believe will, in part, create a default win for them in Federal Court.
The case has drawn national attention in social media because of Religious Freedom laws and proposed bills currently being debated in Michigan and recently passed in Indiana and Arkansas.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan strongly supports Rev. Carrick and recently issued this public statement:
“As libertarians we believe that marriage should be a matter of personal liberty, not requiring permission from the state. As Libertarians we believe that marriage is a right, and that by allowing the state to exercise control over marriage, it is implied that we merely have privilege, not the right, to marry. As an example, those born in the US receive a birth certificate, not a birth license.
As such we support Pastor Neil Patrick Carrick’s efforts to decriminalize performance of marriage ceremonies both in his present lawsuit against the state and his efforts to work with local, county and state governments to change the current policies that infringe upon the rights of individuals, clergy and families.”
The Libertarian Party founded in 1971, is the third-largest political party in America. It is the only political party consistently calling for smaller government, lower taxes, and individual rights.
If anyone has video of the speech please post the video or a link.
Just as a point of clarification, they’re challenging a MI law that actually makes it illegal to perform a ceremony for people who don’t have a state-granted civil marriage license. It has nothing to do with whether or not licenses are issued to anybody, or if the marriage is recognized for legal purposes, but rather a law that actually makes it illegal to get together and say certain words that the state deems too marriage-ceremony-like. (I wonder about the old stand-by “commitment ceremony,” and if that counts or not.)
So the point as to polygamous marriages will stand regardless, as will the challenge as regards couples (gay & straight) who simply don’t want a state-registered civil marriage but do want to have some sort of ceremony. The only part of the case that would be mooted by the expected same-sex marriage ruling, would be as regards same-sex couples who do want a civil marriage.
This law is unenforced, and would almost certainly be unenforceable, but it is still on the books and has never been successfully challenged. And it’s an excellent case to take up, because hopefully this will establish some good precedents as regards state regulating of marriage officiants, and possibly other areas of law (depending on what exact basis the case is decided).