Forum Spotlights Religious Liberty and Same-Sex Marriage

Published on September 09, 2015

How should the government balance LGBT rights and religious liberty?

Should the state accommodate religious objections to same-sex marriage, either for private businesses or public officials?

Could a church or religious organization lose its tax-exempt status for opposing same-sex marriage?

Those questions and others will be addressed at a forum at Eastern Kentucky University on Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. in Room 108 of the John Grant Crabbe Main Library. The event, entitled “Religious Liberty and Same-Sex Marriage: Where Do We Go from Here?,” highlights the University’s annual Constitution Week observance and is sponsored by the EKU Department of Government. It will feature Bryan Beauman, allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom; and Rene Heinrich and Kash Stilz, attorneys for James Yates and William Smith, the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Rowan County, Kentucky, where Kim Davis serves as county clerk.

Heinrich is also an EKU Honors alum.

Alliance Defending Freedom, founded in 1994, is an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith, according to its Facebook site.

The event is free and open to the public.