Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Reform Rabbis Join Push To End North Carolina Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis joined a lawsuit against North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages.

The lawsuit, which was filed April 28 by the United Church of Christ and several same-sex couples, alleges that North Carolina’s Amendment One and other state laws make it illegal for clergy to officiate at a same-sex marriage. Other religious groups, including the Baptists and the All Souls Episcopal Cathedral, have joined the suit.

The CCAR is the lone Jewish organization listed as a plaintiff in the case; several individual Reform rabbis are on the list of plaintiffs.

Unlike a suit lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2012 demanding due process of the law, which was stayed on June 2, the current suit contends that the ban on gay marriage is a violation of religious freedom. Amendment One was approved by North Carolina voters in May 2012.

“The CCAR’s support for full civil and religious rights for gays and lesbians is based on the Torah’s assertion that every person is created in God’s image and deserves dignity, equality and respect,” said CCAR President Rabbi Richard Block in a news release.

In 2000, the CCAR expressed its formal support for clergy members officiating at Jewish same-sex weddings. The group offers educational and liturgical resources for rabbis conducting such weddings.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.