Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Ministers charged in same-sex marriage

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 15, 2004 at 9:44 PM

NEW PALTZ, N.Y., March 15 (UPI) -- Two ministers were charged Monday with crimes for marrying same-sex couples in New Paltz, N.Y., duringr the weekend, 365gay.com reported.

Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey performed wedding ceremonies for 25 same-sex couples despite a warning from District Attorney Donald Williams that they could be arrested, the report said.

Greenleaf and Sangrey face multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license. The charges carry a fine of $25 to $500 or jail time on each count.

The charges are the same as those leveled by Williams against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, the report said. West has pleaded innocent, but remains under a court order not to perform any more gay weddings.

The charges against Greenleaf and Sangrey directly pit the rights of churches against the state, the report said.

Williams acknowledged it will be more difficult to get a conviction against the ministers as opposed to an elected official because the clergy had not sworn to uphold the law, the report said.

Topics: Jason West
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Daughter: hey, look what my pet bird can dance to. Parents: he's going to hell
"Slave master" husband, who severly beat wife over DS/SM marriage pact, quits as local charity director....
Amsterdam drops ban on drinking beer standing up. Drinking beer upside down still punishable offense...
Photoshop Theme: Mashup products from different centuries. Link goes to real product example
Okay, you've got to admit wildfires are pretty cool when you're looking at them from space
Barnes and Noble tell a 73-year-old patron that men can't be by themselves in the children's area,...