Amicus Curiae Brief — Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colo. Civil Rights Comm'n, 138 S. Ct. 419 (2017) (No. 16-111)
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No. 16-111
Supreme Court of th Hts SE
MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP, LTD., ef al.,
Petitioners,
COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, et al.,
Respondents.
_—
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO
THE COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS
BRIEF FOR AMICI CURIAE THE CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF
AMERICAN RABBIS; THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE OF
THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST; THE RECONSTRUCTIONIST
RABBINICAL ASSOCIATION; THE UNION FOR REFORM
JUDAISM; UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION;
COVENANT NETWORK OF PRESBYTERIANS; FRIENDS FOR
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, AND QUEER
CONCERNS; METHODIST FEDERATION FOR SOCIAL ACTION;
MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS; MUSLIMS FOR PROGRESSIVE
VALUES; THE OPEN AND AFFIRMING COALITION OF THE
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST; RECONCILING MINISTRIES
NETWORK; RECONCILINGWORKS: LUTHERANS FOR FULL
PARTICIPATION; RELIGIOUS INSTITUTE, INC.; WOMEN OF
REFORM JUDAISM; AND NEARLY 1,300 INDIVIDUAL
FAITH LEADERS IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS
JEFFREY S. TRACHTMAN KRAMER LEVIN NAFTALIS
Counsel of Record & FRANKEL LLP
NORMAN C. SIMON 1177 Avenue of the Americas
JASON M. MOFF New York, New York 10036
KURT M. DENK (212) 715-9100
EviE SPANOS jtrachtman@kramerlevin.com
TIMUR TUSIRAY
Attorneys for Amici Curiae
—_ eee
2 Sees 2 Mena
l
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ENE SIE FREs CE TEE TEM esi iinnnccasasenessecsiccccesi 11]
INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE........................ ]
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF
PTE Ac chun asd eckididrkevktraseplaabinessecieriveys 1
RE Setedicietcniensbaiadbaebinsliidubandcaant<dsevene teh 7
I. Consistent With Fundamental
Constitutional Values, A Wide Cross-
Section Of American Religious
Traditions Recognizes The Dignity Of
LGBT Persons And Their Relationships ...... )
A. The Premise Of Human Dignity
Can And Should Inform This
ne ie a Er nuide ivcus nasaein 9
B. The Inherent Dignity Of LGBT
Individuals Informs The Theology
Of Many Among Our Nation’s
Religious Community. ...........ccccsecssecceeees 12
C. A Vast Spectrum Of American Faith
Groups And Religious Observers Have
Long Affirmed Same-Sex Couples’
Relationships, Including By Supporting
If Not Solemnizing Their Marriages ...... 15
Il. Diverse Faith Groups And Religious
Observers Affirm LGBT Persons’ Place
Oe Mo stata lo ck cabde cee rodoommenadeesive 17
1
PAGE
Ill. Affirmance Will Not Undermine
Fundamental Rights Of Religious Belief
Be I Gccadiincabchdtvaraeapsnatsucvetoterscdssdeta 21
A. Affirmance Will Not Interfere With
The Exercise Of Core Freedoms To
Believe And Teach Religious Principles
Concerning Sexuality And Marriage,
Or To Set Parameters For Religiously
Sanctioned Marriage That May Differ
From Those Established Under
Bie s a TELE ite SS 22
B. Affirmance Will Not Impermissibly
Burden Petitioners’ Free Exercise
SII ioicon id cies bwaliSetisnbudiacsaGlanevesuclaishpavexeennation 25
APPENDIX A: STATEMENTS OF
INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE.................. la
ill
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
PAGE(S)
Cases
Brown v. Plata,
ee Do inc cons rensendensvenaaurndeess 10
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.,
as i SE MIE cd cdiccacckovessdsccnsctsntsadicncs 3
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc.
v. City of Hialeah,
ee as: IIIT cence venscacsivancctcsensnes 6, 30, 31
Duncan v. Kahanamoku,
ee Bs Se oo ccintactactvnccnccssatessenanesis 9
Emp’t Div., Dep’t of Human Res.
of Oregon v. Smith,
Cg OE ee eee passim
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States,
er es EE CID ctitndcnndevecancssvanetears 9, 10, 34
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran
Church & Sch. v. EEOC,
Se ES BE CEE evckntcnccavescaccnvcdeecds 5, 22, 32
Larson v. Valente,
RS I oe cpenincdvigv cur ens cusensustonnise 8
Lawrence v. Texas,
I ls IED <c.cccccnakscccndsniconcsussdeses 10, 11
Loving v. Virginia,
ne eo ooo bein pen duutendudtinboesenmuedin 23
Maynard v. Hill,
a Bee ID ois). <dancacsadcsscuesucsnnsceneeuce=s 8
iv
PAGE(S)
McDaniel v. Paty,
ost § | o. |. eres 25
Newman v. Piggie Park Enters., Inc.,
256 F. Supp. 941 (D.S.C. 1966) .....0....000..c0008- 33
Newman v. Piggie Park Enters., Inc.,
Se i I a in ncnacuinsntceveppenteneacccuvennsnta 32
Obergefell v. Hodges,
is I OD ois nstnscscccoccosscccsscns passim
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern
Pennsylvania v. Casey,
ee I oir vvcdcnecinsesscisnddesesavavcentas 10
Presbyterian Church in U.S. v. Mary Elizabeth
Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church,
ee ee i Be I Sicikesecicnch «succresavadesetcavensses 25
Roper v. Simmons,
ee ee ID nos scrnnnn penaosueaweismnenseneuahn 10
Sherbert v. Verner,
Se ee i I sic cndeccienscnsipniscnvedaceasceannns 25
Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives’ Association,
ee na venanddededdanveouabnentenies 10
Torcaso v. Watkins,
ee ED oo ws cn nunctessinhvewesbinaiepiee 25
United States v. Ballard,
I nod cn ores niches ae nirenicaveensnendeee 25
United States v. Lee,
a on cicw hau conan buianetsanseyaniens 33
Wisconsin v. Yoder,
EE ee EEE eeeccanninrsseseensnastinesentasesceibe 27
PAGE(S)
Constitutional Provisions
U.S. Constitution, First Amendment......... passim
U.S. Constitution, Eighth Amendment.............. 10
Statutes
2008 Colo. Legis. Serv. Ch. 341 ..............sescscesees 24
CCHPEe TER FAS GE ROG on ccvscsccicccsccccecesesccesss 10, 34
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-34-601(1)
(Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act) ...... passim
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993....... 20
Other Authorities
11th Churchwide Assembly, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, Human
Sexuality: Gift and Trust (Aug. 19, 2009),
http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20
Resource%20Repository/SexualitySS.pdf...... 16
Affirmation United Methodists for Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer
Concerns, Affirmation Affirms Election
of First Gay Bishop (July 30, 2016),
http://www.umaffirm.org/site/current-
events/24-latest-news/140-affirmation-
affirms-election-of-first-gay-bishop.htm|...... 13
v1
PAGE(S)
Central Conference of American Rabbis,
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on
Homosexuality and the Rabbinate of
the Central Conference of American
Rabbis Annual Convention (1990),
http://borngay.procon.org/sourcefiles/
CUA. FEORRGGGIUBIIET GE oicii ices scccsdccensorcescss 13
Central Conference of American Rabbis,
Resolution on State Religious Freedom
Restoration Acts (May 6, 2015)..................... 20
Colorado Springs Monthly Meeting Minute
(Dec. 8, 1991), Friends for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer
Concerns, Collected Marriage Minutes,
http://flgbtqce.quaker.org/minutes.htm]......... 17
Betsy Cooper, et al., Beyond Same-sex
Marriage: Attitudes on LGBT
Nondiscrimination Laws and Religious
Exemptions from the 2015 American
Values Atlas, Public Religion Research
Institute (Feb. 18, 2016), https://www.prri.
org/research/poll-same-sex-gay-marriage-
lgbt-nondiscrimination-religious-liberty/...... 18
Daniel P. Cox, et al., Majority of Americans
Oppose Transgender Bathroom Restrictions,
Public Religion Research Institute
(Mar. 10, 2017), https://www.prri.org/
research/lgbt-transgender-bathroom-
discrimination-religious-liberty/................... 15
vil
PAGE(S)
Daniel P. Cox, et al., Most Americans
Oppose Restricting Rights for LGBT
People, Public Religion Research Institute
(Sept. 14, 2017), https://www.prri.org/
research/poll-wedding-vendors-refusing-
service-same-sex-couples-transgender-
a cecunsesineiodnatses 18, 19
The Deseret News, Interracial Marriage
Discouraged, June 17, 1978.................cceceeee 23
Alexis de Tocqueville, 2 Democracy in
America (1840) (J.P. Mayer ed. (1969),
George Lawrence trans. (1966), First
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (2006)).... 2
Elizabeth A. Eaton, Letter as Presiding
Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (June 30, 2015),
http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20
Resource%20Repository/Letter_on_
Supreme_Court_Decision.pdf?_ga=
1.178451175.279518488.1472961181............ 17
Robert P. Jones, Attitudes on Same-sex
Marriage by Religious Affiliation and
Denominational Family, Public Religion
Research Institute (Apr. 22, 2015),
http://www.prri.org/spotlight/attitudes-
on-same-sex-marriage-by-religious-
affiliation-and-denominational-family/.......... 7
vill
PAGE(S)
Robert P. Jones, Daniel Cox & Elizabeth
Cook, Public Religion Research Institute,
Generations at Odds: The Millennial
Generation and the Future of Gay and
Lesbian Rights (Aug. 29, 2011),
http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-
content/uploads/2011/09/PRRI-Report-
on-Millennials-Religion-Gay-and-Lesbian-
ISIE nis uc tivhstncedicistsuntebesasdanoenes
Journal of the 78th General Convention
of The Episcopal Church, Resolutions
2015-A036 (New York: General Convention
2015), http://www.episcopalarchives.org/
cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=
Ad «sn cancebipendintnadsbaaaanabbnmadenieves
Journal of the 78th General Convention
of The Episcopal Church, Resolutions
2015-A054 (New York: General Convention
2015), http://www.episcopalarchives.org/
cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=
SE i cnccncnsescodiaccsnetecesninepncetdandasnietes
Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism,
Conservative View on Intermarriage
(Mar. 7, 1995), http://www.mazorguide.
com/living/Denominations/conservative-
SD oi ticcccediecanssccckckanecscnénanteniss
Sierra Mannie, Simons Says: HB 1523
‘Is About Bigotry,’ Jackson Free Press
(July 6, 2016), http://www.jacksonfree
press.com/news/2016/jul/06/simons-
says-hb-1523-about-bigotry/ ....................c066
ix
PAGE(S)
Anthony Moujaes, UCC social justice
advocates keep watch on ‘religious
freedom’, United Church of Christ
(Apr. 12, 2016), http://www.ucc.org/
news_ucc_social_justice_advocates_
keep_watch_on_religious_freedom_
SE reccdettncinseveduneideumadaaenha ia cpibcidensa 20
Muslims for Progressive Values, Who We
Are, http://www.mpvusa.org/who-we-
are/, MPV Principles, http://www.mpv
usa.org/mpv-principles (last visited
Ss Ts SEE TTI sdc'xde ceiednesduapmnetdaabidabtenddaseese sede 12
New York Times, Lesbian Rabbi Is to Become
President of Reform Group (Mar. 15, 2015),
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/
lesbian-rabbi-is-to-become-president-of-
PN ii ciate 13
Open and Affirming Coalition United Church
of Christ: UCC Actions, Resolution: Calling
on United Church of Christ Congregations to
Declare Themselves Open and Affirming
(1985), http://www.ucccoalition.org/
about/history/ucc-actions/ ..................c0ceeeeeees 13
Michael J. Perry, Religion in Politics,
29 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 729 (1996)................... 8
Pew Research Center, America’s Changing
Religious Landscape (May 12, 2015),
http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/05/
RLS-08-26-full-report.pdf ................ccccccceeeeees 7
PAGE(S)
Pew Research Center, Reports analyzing
and highlighting findings in the U.S.
Religious Landscape Survey, U.S. Public
Becoming Less Religious (Nov. 3 2015),
http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/
11/201.11.03_RLS_II_full_report.pdf............. 7
Rabbinical Assembly, Press Release,
Conservative Movement Affirms Rights
of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming
People (June 2, 2016), http://www.rabbinical
assembly.org/story/conservative-movement-
affirms-rights-transgender-and-gender-
non-conforming-people .............cccccseeeeeeeeeeeees 12
Rabbinical Assembly, Resolution In Support
Of Equal Rights And Inclusion For Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgender
(GLBT) Persons (Apr. 6, 2011),
https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/
story/resolution-support-equal-rights-
and-inclusion-gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-
ER EER REESE Bre a lp seme eno ee 11
Reconciling Works: Lutherans for Full
Participation, Georgia Clergy Unite
To Oppose Religious Refusal Bills
(Jan. 14, 2015), https://www.reconciling
works.org/georgia-clergy-unite-to-oppose-
III ioc cen eeuptchseedbetnenneten 20
Michael Rosen, Dignity: Its History and
SI ae IES ena eS eed eee 10
xl
PAGE(S)
Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage, Statement as
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Mississippi, HB 1523 Press Release
033116 — In Light of Senate Passage, The
Episcopal Church in Miss. (Mar. 31, 2016),
http://www.dioms.org/dfc/newsdetail_
IED ccansadsdunkiddidwedauninananipendenitniadonasevens 19
Pamela A. Smoot, Race Relations, How Do
Baptists Treat Their Brothers and Sisters?,
History Speaks, To Hard Questions
Baptists Ask (2009), http://www.baptist
history.org/smootracerelations.pdf ................ 8
Union for Reform Judaism: Resolutions,
Gay and Lesbian Jews (1989),
http://www.urj.org/what-we-believe/
resolutions/gay-and-lesbian-jews.................. 13
United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops,
Compendium — Catechism Of The Catholic
SE I cintcvscusepainacsodepensiiegsctsushinbuoren 23
INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE'
Amici curiae (“Amici”) comprise a broad range of
religious stakeholders (including approximately 1,300
individual clergy and faith leaders) who represent
traditions rooted in centuries of American history and
who affirm religious liberty, human dignity, and
equal rights.2, Amici come from faiths that have
addressed social and religious questions affecting
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”)
people and their families in different ways over time.
But Amici unite in believing it is both morally wrong
and not constitutionally required to permit blanket
discrimination in the public marketplace for goods
and services based on the personal religious beliefs of
merchants with respect to same-sex couples’ rights
and relationships. Amici believe that, to the
contrary, public accommodation laws should be
applied on the basis of religiously neutral principles
of equal protection under the law.
INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Over a century and a half ago, Alexis de
Tocqueville reflected on religion’s central role in the
birth of the English colonies in America and its
“peculiar power” in the cultural life of the United
States. He simultaneously identified a necessary
1 _ All parties have consented to the filing of this amicus
curiae brief. No counsel for a party authored this brief in whole
or in part, and no person or entity besides undersigned Amici
and their counsel made a monetary contribution intended to
fund the preparation or submission of this brief.
2 Appendix A states the interests of each of the
institutional Amici and lists all individual Amici.
2
corollary at the heart of religious freedom: “In
America religion has, if one may put it so, defined its
own limits. There the structure of religious life has
remained entirely distinct from the political
organization. It has therefore been easy to change
ancient laws without shaking the foundations of
ancient beliefs.”
Tocqueville may have been overly sanguine about
the ease of change, but his basic premise remains
strikingly relevant in the face of attempts in this case
to posit a false dichotomy between “LGBT consumers
[and] . . . people of faith.” Pet. Br. at 41.4 The
dichotomy is false, among other reasons, because our
legal system distinguishes between the ironclad
protections provided to religion in its own sphere and
the different balances that society strikes in laws
regulating interactions in the public marketplace.
Amici favoring reversal seek to blur this crucial
distinction built into our constitutional system, but
the values they purport to espouse do not require this
3 Alexis de Tocqueville, 2 Democracy in America 432
(1840) (J.P. Mayer ed. (1969), George Lawrence trans. (1966),
First Harper Perennial Modern Classics (2006)) (paragraph
break omitted).
4 See also, e.g., Brief of Amicus Curiae of the Becket Fund
for Religious Liberty in Support of Petitioners (“Becket Br.”) at |
(evincing concern affirmance would affect “conscience rights of
... religious people”); Brief of Christian Legal Society, et al., as
Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners (“CLS Br.”) at 1 (arguing
that “{nJow that the Court has protected the liberty of same-sex
couples, it is equally important to protect the religious liberty of
. deeply religious Americans ... [who] cannot in good
conscience assist with same-sex weddings.”); Brief of North
Carolina Values Coalition and the Family Research Council as
Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners at 17 (arguing that “[wle
dare not sacrifice priceless American freedoms through ...
government efforts to broaden LGBT rights.”).
3
divisive result. The undersigned Amici also
represent “[rJeligious voices [that] have shaped views
of sexual morality for centuries,”® “do not see their
lives as segmented into ‘secular’ and ‘religious’
compartments,”® and believe, like Petitioners, “that
marriage has a ‘spiritual significance,’ . . . to the point
of being ‘sacred.” Pet. Br. at 21 (quoting Turner v.
Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 96 (1987), and Obergefeli v.
Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2594 (2015)). Amici further
affirm the “premise ... that religion is a very central
element of personal identity,” and that, “for believers,
‘free exercise is essential in preserving their own
dignity,” as Justice Kennedy observed in Burwell v.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014).’
But it is precisely their understanding of human
dignity as both a religious value and a feature of this
Court’s equal rights jurisprudence that leads Amici to
view this dispute first and foremost as a
discrimination case, not a religious liberty case.
Personal religious views are entitled to the utmost
respect, but do not provide a license to disregard
neutral civil rights laws that do not directly and
substantially burden actual religious exercise.
The posited dichotomy between LGBT rights and
people of faith is false for a further reason: Within
the diverse panorama of American religious thought,
a large and growing portion of the religious
community welcomes, accepts, and celebrates LGBT
individuals and families and rejects the idea that
they should be subject to discrimination in public
5 NCVC Br. at 27.
6 Brief of Amici Curiae C12 Group, et al., in Support of
Petitioners at 1.
7 CLS Br. at 7-8 (citing Hobby Lobby, 134 S. Ct. at 2785
(Kennedy, J., concurring)).
4
accommodations based on differing religious views
that reject their dignity and equality. As Amici will
show, views embracing LGBT equality are widely
shared by Mainline and Evangelical Protestants,
members of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers), Jews of the Reconstructionist, Reform,
and Conservative movements, as well as many
individual Mormons, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and
Roman Catholics. Consistent with these views, many
leaders among longstanding pillars of the faith
community — including Episcopalians, ‘utherans,
Methodists, Presbyterians, and Unitarians, as well as
the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the
United Church of Christ — have objected to claims for
broad religious exemption from antidiscrimination
law. Any suggestion that “religion” or “people of
faith” as a whole reject LGBT equality is false and,
frankly, insulting to millions of Americans of faith.
Amici accordingly urge the Court to reject
Petitioners’ plea for a First Amendment-premised
exemption from the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act
(“CADA”). Petitioner Jack Phillips has every right to
his religious beliefs concerning marriage and to
lawfully act on those beliefs in his personal and
religious life. But once he held himself out as a baker
marketing wedding cakes to the general public, he
became subject to public accommodation laws like
CADA. If he refused to bake a cake for an interracial
couple on the ground that his religion taught him
that marriages can properly exist only between
persons of the same race, we respectfully submit that
few would give this objection much credence. The
dignitary injury to an interracial couple turned away
from his shop would be obvious and palpable — and
hardly remedied by the offer to sell them cookies or
birthday cakes. So, too, for Respondents Charlie
5
Craig and David Mullins, for whom Phillips refused
to bake a wedding cake because of equivalent
religious objections based on their status as a same-
sex couple.®
Amici reject the argument that enforcement of
Colorado’s civil rights laws constitutes a threat to
religious freedom. To the contrary, evenhanded civil
rights enforcement that declines to give special status
to any one set of religious views is consistent with the
respect for pluralism, fundamental to First Amend-
ment history and jurisprudence, that is the essence of
religious liberty. Affirmance here will not impinge
upon religious doctrine or practice, and religions and
religious people will remain free to determine what
and who satisfies the requisites for practice of their
faith. See Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran
Church & Sch. v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171, 195 (2012)
(recognizing that certain matters are “strictly
ecclesiastical” and therefore “the church’s alone”
(citation omitted)). This includes defining marriage
within the faith and preserving marriage practices
consistent with those tenets. See Obergefell v.
Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2607 (2015) (affirming right
of religions to define marriage according to principles
of their faith).
Nor will affirmance undercut religious entities’ or
individuals’ core First Amendment freedoms to speak
and practice what they believe. Focusing here on
8 As Respondent Colorado Civil Rights Commission
(“CCRC”) has noted, Phillips told Craig and Mullins that “he
would sell the couple” other baked goods, including “birthday
cakes, shower cakes, ... cookies and brownies,” but further
said, “I just don’t make cakes for same sex weddings.” Brief for
Respondent Colorado Civil Rights Commission at 11 (citing
JA152).
6
Phillips’s purported Free Exercise claim,’ the
commercial conduct regulated by CADA relates only
tangentially, if at all, to actual religious exercise, and
this Court “ha[s] consistently held that the right of
free exercise does not relieve an individual of the
obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of
general applicability on the ground that the law
proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion
prescribes (or proscribes).”. Empt Div., Dept of
Human Res. of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 879
(1990) (quotation and citation omitted), overturned on
other grounds by legislative action (Nov. 16, 1993).
The neutral civil rights enforcement in this case does
not target or discriminate against Phillips’s religious
beliefs, like the laws struck down in Church of the
Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S.
520 (1993) — indeed, it has nothing to do with his
religious beliefs and would apply in exactly the same
way if he refused to sell wedding cakes to same-sex
couples for non-religious reasons. Finally, there is no
limiting principle for the religious exemption Phillips
seeks — as demonstrated by the broader claims of
religious amici favoring reversal, recognizing his
claim would open the door to wholesale evisceration
of civil rights enforcement in the name of religious
“freedom.”
Amici submit that the best way to ensure that all
people retain the First Amendment right to speak,
preach, pray, and practice their religious beliefs with
respect to gender and sexual orientation is by keeping
the State neutral with respect to such beliefs.
9 With respect to Phillips’ free speech and “hybrid” rights
claims, Amici adopt the arguments contained in the brief
submitted on behalf of Respondents Craig and Mullins (“ACLU
Br.”) at 13, 15-50, 55-57.
7
Affirmance in this case will not constitute an attack
on religion or signal a judicial imprimatur on
changing social mores. Rather, affirmance will
recognize that the religious pluralism woven into the
fabric of American law, culture, and society embraces
creative tension, while confirming that all, regardless
of faith, are entitled to equal protection under the
law.
ARGUMENT
America’s religious landscape is vast and diverse. !°
Religious adherents differ on contentious issues,
including intra-denominationally,!! and_ religious
10 Recent data confirms that significant majorities of
Americans believe in God (89%) and have some formal religious
affiliation (76.5%). Pew Research Center, Reports analyzing
and highlighting findings in the U.S. Religious Landscape
Survey, U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious 3 (Nov. 3 2015),
http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/11/201.11.03_RLS_IT_full_
report.pdf; see also Pew Research Center, America’s Changing
Religious Landscape 4 (May 12, 2015), http://www.pew
forum.org/files/2015/05/RLS-08-26-full-report.pdf. This includes
Americans who are of various Christian denominations, and
Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and others. Jd. In Colorado,
26% of Pew survey respondents identified as being from the
Evangelical Protestant tradition, 15% from Mainline Protestant
traditions, and 16% from the Catholic tradition, with lesser
percentages identifying with a number of other traditions. Jd. at
145.
11 _ Views on marriage rights for same-sex couples are a case
in point. “[A]s opinions... shifted in the general population, so
[did] those of [the] faithful.... A decade ago, the most
supportive religious groups were white mainline Protestants
and Catholics, with 36 percent and 35 percent support,
respectively. [By 2015], major religious groups reside[d] on both
sides of this issue and within many key groups — such as
Catholics — support among rank and file members [came to be]
at odds with official church opposition.” Robert P. Jones,
8
bodies have evolved and disagreed over time on
various civil rights and social issues.!* In view of
that history and the wide range of modern religious
thought on LGBT persons’ dignity and place in civic
life, it would be wrong to permit particular “religious”
or “morally convicted” views on sexual orientation
and marriage to give rise to broad exemptions from
neutral antidiscrimination laws, like CADA, that
apply to everyone. Civil marriage has long been
recognized as a secular institution, Maynard v. Hill,
125 U.S. 190, 210 (1888), and _ longstanding
jurisprudence likewise makes clear that religious
favoritism by government is impermissible, Larson v.
Valente, 456 U.S. 228, 244 (1982) (“The clearest
command of the Establishment Clause is that one
religious denomination cannot be officially preferred
over another.”). Particular religious perspectives on
marriage must not, on the ostensible ground of
“accommodating” religious exercise, be permitted to
recast nonreligious marketplace conduct to deny a
protected class access to everyday incidents of civil
marriage — like wedding cakes — otherwise available
to all. Religious liberty means that all voices may
Attitudes on Same-sex Marriage by Religious Affiliation and
Denominational Family, Public Religion Research Institute
(Apr. 22, 2016), http://www.prri.org/spotlight/attitudes-on-same-
sex-marriage-by-religious-affiliation-and-denominational-family/.
12 For example, the American Baptist Church revised its
earlier belief in church and social segregation by race. Pamela
A. Smoot, Race Relations, How Do Baptists Treat Their Brothers
and Sisters?, Baptist History and Heritage Society: History
Speaks (2009), http://www.baptisthistory.org/smootracerelations.
pdf. A prominent law and religion scholar also has noted that
religions’ shifting views on usury, the dissolubility of marriage,
and slavery reveal “the displacement of a principle or principles
that had been taken as dispositive.” Michael J. Perry, Religion
in Politics, 29 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 729, 772 n.94 (1996).
9
contribute to our national conversation about LGBT
equality. But particular religious perspectives may
not be accorded special privileges or permitted to
undermine the protections afforded by neutral,
generally applicable statutes and regulations.
I. Consistent With Fundamental Constitutional
Values, A Wide Cross-Section Of American
Religious Traditions Recognizes The Dignity
Of LGBT Persons And Their Relationships
Undersigned Amici respectfully submit that the
starting point for any discussion of the treatment of
LGBT persons — as a matter of religious doctrine or
civil law — must be the fundamental dignity that such
persons share with all other members of the human
family. Amici do not thereby argue that their
religious views should be accorded any more weight
under civil law than those of amici supporting
Petitioners. They simply note that this Court’s
constitutional jurisprudence shares this common
touchstone with Amici’s religious teachings.
A. The Premise Of Human Dignity Can And
Should Inform This Court’s Analysis
Justices of this Court began invoking the concept of
human dignity in connection with the movement for
racial justice in the post-World War II era. In
Duncan v. Kahanamoku, 327 U.S. 304 (1946), Justice
Murphy decried racism as having “no place whatever
in our civilization” and as “render|ing] impotent the
ideal of the dignity of the human personality.” Id. at
334 (Murphy, J., concurring). And Heart of Atlanta
Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 250 (1964),
affirmed the premise that denying persons equal
access to a public accommodation constitutes nothing
less than a “deprivation of personal dignity” (internal
10
quotation marks and citation omitted). Justice
Goldberg further emphasized in concurrence that
“(t]he primary purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
... [wa]s the vindication of human dignity.” Jd. at
291 (Goldberg, J., concurring) (emphasis added).
These observations did not occur in an historical
vacuum. As Harvard political philosopher Michael
Rosen has observed, human dignity’s “intrinsic value”
has “played a very important role in the founding
documents of modern human rights discourse.”!%
Consistent with this historical footing, successive
decisions by this Court have been informed at least in
part by a jurisprudence of human dignity. Skinner v.
Railway Labor Executives’ Association, 489 U.S. 602
(1989), acknowledged “[t]he interests in human
dignity” relevant to a Fourth Amendment claim
pertaining to employee privacy rights. Jd. at 644
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v.
Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), observed that this Court’s
precedent respects “the most intimate and personal
choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices
central to [the] personal dignity and autonomy”
equally central to liberty. Jd. at 851. Eighth
Amendment decisions also confirm that’ the
Constitution rests upon “broad provisions to secure
individual freedom and preserve human dignity,”
Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 578 (2005), and thus
have held that providing prisoners inadequate
medical care “is incompatible with the concept of
human dignity and has no place in civilized society,”
Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493, 511 (2011). Lawrence
v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), acknowledged “that
13 Michael Rosen, Dignity: Its History and Meaning 61
(2012).
11
adults [who] may choose to enter upon [a same-sex
intimate] relationship ... retain their dignity as free
persons,” id. at 567, and in confirming same-sex
couples’ right to marry, Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at 2584,
affirmed that fundamental liberties “extend to certain
personal choices central to individual dignity and
autonomy,” and that “[t]here is dignity in the bond
between two men or two women who seek to marry
and in their autonomy to make such profound
choices.” Jd. at 2597, 2599.
Human dignity serves as a point of connection
between the crux of this dispute — namely, prohibited
discrimination by a business open to the public — and
religious perspectives on LGBT persons and same-sex
unions shared by Amici. Professor Rosen’s
aforementioned study notes that “[d]ignity’ appears
frequently in faith-based ethical discourse,” citing the
work of recent Roman Catholic popes and prominent
Protestant theologians while confirming, all the
same, that human dignity is “not the rhetorical
property of any single religion.”'* Indeed, the
Rabbinical Assembly, representing the rabbis of
Conservative Judaism, endorsed LGBT equal rights
in a resolution opening with the words “Great is
human dignity, since it overrides a negative precept
of the Torah.”!5 Rabbi Julie Schonfeld noted in
connection with a June 2016 resolution by the same
group affirming the rights of transgender and gender
non-conforming persons that the “rabbinic tradition
\4 Rosen, supra note 13, at 3.
16 Rabbinical Assembly, Resolution In Support Of Equal
Rights And Inclusion For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And
Transgender (GLBT) Persons (Apr. 6, 2011) (citing Sanhedrin
19b), https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/story/resolution-support-
equal-rights-and-inclusion-gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-transgender-
gibt.
12
emphasizes the importance of kvod habriyot, human
dignity.”'® Similar principles inform Islam, as well.'’
Fundamental dignity thus is not just the starting
point for any legal or cultural debate about
discrimination against same-sex couples in the public
marketplace; it is also the core principle shaping
views on LGBT equality of a substantial portion of
the American religious community.
B. The Inherent Dignity Of LGBT Individuals
Informs The Theology Of Many Among
Our Nation’s Religious Community
Religious Americans increasingly affirm that the
dignity of LGBT persons logically and theologically
follows from the premise that all persons have
inherent dignity. Some traditions reflect this
evolution in approving LGBT persons for ministry,'*
16 The Rabbinical Assembly, Press Release, Conservative
Movement Affirms Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-
Conforming People (June 2, 2016), http://www.rabbinicalassembly.
org/story/conservative-movement-affirms-rights-transgender-and-
gender-non-conforming-people.
17 On the basis of the Quranic teaching that “God enjoins
justice, kindness and generosity toward one’s fellow humankind”
(Quran 16:90), Muslims for Progressive Values advocates for “a
future where Islam is understood as a source of dignity, justice,
compassion and love for all humanity and the world,” and
“affirm(s] the equal worth of all human beings, regardless of
race, sex, gender, gender identification, ethnicity, nationality,
creed, sexual orientation, or ability.” Muslims for Progressive
Values, Who We Are, http://www.mpvusa.org/who-we-are/, MPV
Principles, http://www.mpvusa.org/mpv-principles (last visited
Oct. 17, 2017).
18 See Brief of Amici Curiae President of the House of
Deputies of the Episcopal Church, et al., Supporting Petitioners,
Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct 2584 (2015) (“Obergefell
Religious Amici Brief’), notes 17-18 and accompanying text
(describing emergence in various U.S. faith traditions, beginning
13
selecting prominent leaders,’® or in extending
religious blessing and rites to same-sex unions, as
further described below.
Such practices show that religious respect for
LGBT persons — including by “traditional” religions —
is deep, but not new. It was over thirty years ago
that the United Church of Christ, with nearly one
million members today, adopted a_ policy of
membership nondiscrimination regarding sexual
orientation.2° In 1989, the 45th General Assembly for
the Union of Reform Judaism, representing 1.3
million Reform Jews, resolved to “urge [its] member
congregations to welcome gay and lesbian Jews to
membership, as singles, couples, and families.”?!
in late 1970s, of policies and norms governing lesbians and gays
in ministry).
19 For example, the Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto was elected as
the United Methodist Church’s first openly lesbian bishop in
July 2016. Affirmation United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Concerns, Affirmation Affirms
Election of First Gay Bishop (July 30, 2016), http://www.umaffirm.
org/site/current-events/24-latest-news/140-affirmation-affirms-
election-of-first-gay-bishop.html. In March 2015, Rabbi Denise
L. Eger became the first openly LGBT president of Reform
Judaism’s Central Conference of American Rabbis. Lesbian
Rabbi Is to Become President of Reform Group, New York Times
(Mar. 15, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/lesbian-
rabbi-is-to-become-president-of-reform-group.html.
20 Open and Affirming Coalition United Church of Christ:
UCC Actions, Resolution; Calling on United Church of Christ
Congregations to Declare Themselves Open and Affirming
(1985), http://www.ucccoalition.org/about/history/ucc-actions/
(scroll and follow hyperlink for year 1985).
21 Union for Reform Judaism: Resolutions, Gay and
Lesbian Jews (1989), http://www.urj.org/what-we-believe/
resolutions/gay-and-lesbian-jews. Cf. Central Conference of
American Rabbis, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on
Homosexuality and the Rabbinate of the Central Conference of
14
Many other faiths similarly embrace a theological
belief in the fundamental human dignity of LGBT
Americans. The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), Reconstructionist Judaism, the
Unitarian Universalist Church, the United Methodist
Church, and myriad others adhere to this basic
tenet.22
Religious individuals, too, have demonstrated an
increasingly positive view of LGBT Americans. Four
years before this Court’s Obergefell decision, a Public
Religion Research Institute study found that a
majority of Americans from most major religious
groups had positive moral and theological views of
gay and lesbian people, including 62% of Roman
Catholics, 63% of white Mainline Protestants, and 69%
of non-Christian, religiously affiliated Americans.”
Today, post-Obergefell, same-sex couples’ civil right to
marry “garners majority support among most
religious groups,” registering the support of
“frloughly two-thirds of white mainline Protestants
(66%) and Catholics (68%), and more than eight in
ten (84%) religiously unaffiliated Americans and
members of non-Christian religious traditions
American Rabbis Annual Convention, 262 (1990),
http://borngay.procon.org/sourcefiles/CCAR_ Homosexuality.pdf
(“all Jews are religiously equal regardless of their sexual
orientation”).
22 See Obergefell Religious Amici Brief, notes 8-13 and
accompanying text.
23° Robert P. Jones, Daniel Cox & Elizabeth Cook, Public
Religion Research Institute, Generations at Odds: The
Millennial Generation and the Future of Gay and Lesbian
Rights, 18-20 (Aug. 29, 2011), http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-
content/uploads/2011/09/PRRI-Report-on-Millennials-Religion-
Gay-and-Lesbian-Issues-Survey.pdf.
15
(86%).”24 Such data undermines Petitioners’ broad
contention that neutral] anti _iscrimination legislation
like CADA that protects “LGBT consumers”
endangers the rights of “people of faith.” See Pet. Br.
at 41. Such data suggests that most people of faith
see no conflict between religion and LGBT civil
rights.
C. A Vast Spectrum Of American Faith
Groups And Religious Observers Have
Long Affirmed Same-Sex Couples’
Relationships, Including By Supporting If
Not Solemnizing Their Marriages
Petitioners and certain amici supporting them
suggest that this Court’s Obergefell decision has
undermined traditional religious views of marriage.?®
But in point of fact, many mainstream religious
groups and individuals have long affirmed same-sex
couples’ relationships, their right to civil marriage,
and/or their fitness to enter into religious unions.”6
24 Daniel P. Cox, et al., Majority of Americans Oppose
Transgender Bathroom Restrictions, Public Religion Research
Institute (Mar. 10, 2017), https://www.prri.org/research/lgbt-
transgender-bathroom-discrimination-religious-liberty/.
25 —s See, e.g., Pet. Br. at 36 (arguing that despite Obergefell’s
assurance that freedoms associated with “open and searching
debate” about marriage would endure, the CCRC “undermined
Phillips’s freedom” in that respect “[b]y playing favorites on the
issue of same-sex marriage” (quoting Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at
2607)); Brief of Amicus Curiae of Concerned Women For
America in Support of Petitioners and Urging Reversal at 22
(discussing Obergefell and arguing that “[t]he animus against
Christians who hold a traditionally Biblical view of marriage
continues to grow under the current political and cultural
pressures we have discussed”).
26 — Recognizing that civil and religious marriage necessarily
are two different things, many religions — including those
16
For example, a number of years ago the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America described
the manner in which same-sex unions are, and are
expected to be, like different-sex unions in several
constitutive dimensions: “[T]he neighbor and
community are best served when same-gender
relationships are lived out with lifelong and
monogamous commitments that are held to the same
rigorous standards, sexual! ethics, and status as
heterosexual marriage. [We] surround such couples
and their lifelong commitments with prayer to live in
ways that glorify God.”27 And more than twenty-five
years ago, Quakers in Colorado ~ the state featured
in this dispute — recognized a “particular need to offer
loving support to those people who share same-sex
relationships” and determined that because “all
people are equal in the sight of God and
committed relationships are founded on a spiritual
bondedness and unity among ourselves and with
God,” it was consistent with the Society of Friends’
“beliefs and testimonies to practice a single standard
as outlined in [their] Faith and Practice for joining
committed relationships under the care of the
represented by Amici here — supported equal civil marriage
rights for same-sex couples well before this Court’s Obergefell
decision, regardless of their religious practices. See Obergefell
Religious Amici Brief, notes 26-38 and accompanying text. Also
prior to Obergefell, majorities of religious individuals from
different communities — including from faiths like Roman
Catholicism that teach marriage should be reserved to different-
sex couples — in many instances favored civil marriage rights for
same-sex couples. See id., notes 41-44 and accompanying text.
27 = See, _e.g., 11th Churchwide Assembly, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust
at 20 (Aug. 19, 2009), http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource
%20Repository/SexualitySS. pdf.
17
Meeting.”2® These are not isolated examples;
numerous other mainstream American faith
communities came to offer some form of religious
recognition of same-sex unions before Obergefell — in
some cases, decades before. ?9
ll. Diverse Faith Groups And Religious Observers
Affirm LGBT Persons’ Place In Civic Life
Endorsement of LGBT persons’ and married
couples’ dignity extends beyond religious profession
to advocacy for equal treatment in civil society.
28 See Colorado Springs Monthly Meeting Minute (Dec. 8,
1991), Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and
Queer Concerns, Collected Marriage Minutes, http://flgbtac.
quaker.org/minutes.html (last visited Oct. 12, 2017).
29 See Obergefeli Religious Amici Brief, notes 21-25 and
accompanying text (discussing developments in the Episcopal
Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Unitarian Universalist
Association, and the United Church of Christ, and within
Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism in the
United States). Following Obergefell, the Episcopal Church
amended its canon law to recognize marriage between two
persons, and authorized marriage ceremonies that refer to “the
couple” or “spouses” as well as “husband” or “wife.” Journal of
the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church,
Resolutions 2015-A036 & 2015-A054, at 778-83 (New York:
General Convention 2015), http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-
bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2015-A036, http://www.
episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=
2015-A054. The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America afforded individual clergy and congregations
the freedom to determine whether to solemnize same-sex
marriages and to what degree such marriages are recognized.
Letter of Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (June 30, 2015),
http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Lette
r_on_Supreme_Court_Decision.pdf?_ga=1.178451175.279518488
.1472961181.
18
Traditions that run the gamut of American
religious expression oppose allowing small business
owners to deny service to gay or lesbian customers on
religious grounds. This includes roughly two-thirds
or more among Unitarian Universalists (83%), Jewish
Americans (72%), Hispanic Catholics (68%),
Buddhists (68%), black Protestants (67%), Orthodox
Christians (66%), Muslims (65%), and Hindus (64%),
together with 71% of religiously unaffiliated
Americans who oppose religiously based service
refusals of gay or lesbian people. Majority opposition
also exists among Hispanic Protestants (58%), white
Catholics (58%), and white mainline Protestants
(56%), and opposition is roughly split among
Jehovah’s Witnesses (50%) and other non-white
Protestants (48%).3° Similar views apply in the
wedding vendor context. With the exception of white
Protestants, a majority of whom “believe wedding-
based businesses should be allowed to refuse serving
same-sex couples,” the belief “that such businesses
should have to serve same-sex couples” is shared by
significant majorities of Hispanic Catholics (73%),
non-Christian religious groups (64%), black
Protestants (56%), and white Catholics (55%), as well
as religiously unaffiliated Americans (65%).*!
30 Betsy Cooper, et al., Beyond Same-sex Marriage:
Attitudes on LGBT Nondiscrimination Laws and Religious
Exemptions from the 2015 American Values Atlas, Public
Religion Research Institute (Feb. 18, 2016), https://www.prri.
org/research/poll-same-sex-gay-marriage-lgbt-nondiscrimination-
religious-liberty/.
31 = Daniel P. Cox, et al., Most Americans Oppose Restricting
Rights for LGBT People, Public Religion Research Institute
(Sept. 14, 2017), https://www.prri.org/research/poll-wedding-ven
dors-refusing-service-same-sex-couples-transgender- military-ban/.
19
This broad religious support for LGBT
nondiscrimination notably exceeds, within some of
these subgroups, even the significant aggregate
national majority (56%) who “oppose allowing small
business owners in their state to refuse services or
goods to gay and lesbian people if doing so violates
their religious beliefs.”°2 To be sure, polling data
should never determine the scope of individual
liberties. But such evidence does illustrate, contrary
to the suggestion of some amici that LGBT equality
broadly threatens mainstream religion, an emerging
consensus among people of divergent faith beliefs
that enforcing principles of antidiscrimination in the
civic arena is compatible with — or at least does not
endanger — their religious sensibilities and practices.
Indeed, some leaders from unquestionably
“traditional” religious groups deem the embrace of
civil nondiscrimination to be required by foundational
religious tenets. To cite a few examples, the Bishop
of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi opposed state
legislation seen as privileging certain religious views
with respect to LGBT rights, including same-sex
couples’ marriage rights, declaring that the
“baptismal covenant requires that each of us will
respect the dignity of every human being.”*5 Rabbi
Jeremy Simons perceived the same law as being “not
about religion ... [but] about bigotry,” citing the
command appearing dozens of times in the Bible that
“fyjou shall not oppress the stranger, for you were
32d.
33 Statement by the Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage, Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, HB 1523 Press Release 033116
— In Light of Senate Passage, The Episcopal Church in Miss.
(Mar. 31, 2016), http://www.dioms.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3178220.
20
strangers in the land of Egypt.”*4 Religious leader-
ship and advocacy groups have also, over the course
of several years, explicitly opposed interpreting
constitutional doctrines or extending legislative
provisions protecting religious freedom to “enable
religious liberty claims to prevail in a way that would
permit discrimination against protected classes and
other minorities, including but not limited to the
LGBT community.”*
The preceding analysis makes abundantly clear
that a broad and growing swath of American religious
institutions and individuals embrace LGBT persons’
——— rr
34 Sierra Mannie, Simons Says: HB 1523 ‘Is About Bigotry,’
Jackson Free Press (July 6, 2016), http://www.jacksonfree
press.com/news/2016/jul/06/simons-says-hb-1523-about-bigotry/
(internal quotation marks omitted).
35 Central Conference of American Rabbis, Resolution on State
Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (May 6, 2015) (reaffirming
support for federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
“under the rationale for which it was adopted, namely the
protection of religious liberty,” but opposing enactment of state
RFRA legislation “that would allow businesses and individuals
to claim religious exemptions to discriminate”); see also
Reconciling Works: Lutherans for Full Participation, Georgia
Clergy Unite To Oppose Religious Refusal Bills (Jan. 14, 2015),
https://www.reconcilingworks.org/georgia-clergy-unite-to-oppose-
religious-refusal-bills/ (describing letter by more than 60
religious leaders in Georgia “warning state lawmakers about the
dangerous potential for an increase in discrimination against
people of all backgrounds”); Anthony Moujaes, UCC social
justice advocates keep watch on feligious freedom’, United
Church of Christ (Apr. 12, 2016), http://www.ucc.org/news_
uce_social_justice_advocates_keep_watch_on_religious_freedom_
04122016 (noting UCC human rights advocates’ work in
opposing “almost 200 anti-LGBT bills . . . introduced in 34 states
since January [2016] ... that could be used [as] a means for
businesses” and others to engage in _ religion-based
discrimination against LGBT people ).
21
civil equality. This position, shared by Amici here, is
grounded in an abiding sense that the essential worth
and dignity of all people is not just a guidepost of
theological reflection, but also an ethical precept,
consistent with this Court’s own jurisprudence, that
should inform evenhanded application of civil law.
Certainly there remain contrary views amidst the
rich diversity of American religious thought and
practice. No one view speaks for “religion” — even if,
contrary to the Establishment Clause, it were
appropriate to give weight to religious views in
applying the Constitution’s secular promise of equal
protection. But certainly it is no longer possible, if it
ever were, to claim that neutral and generally
applicable antidiscrimination protections for LGBT
persons in the public marketplace, including with
respect to civil marriage rights, are in and of
themselves offensive to religion.
Ill. Affirmance Will Not Undermine Funda-
mental Rights Of Religious Belief And
Practice
Affirming the decision below upholding the
enforcement action under CADA will not undermine
Petitioners’ fundamental First Amendment freedom
to believe that marriage is “a sacred union between
one man and one woman, [that] represents the
relationship of Jesus Christ and His Church,” Pet. Br.
at 9 (citing JA157-58), and to express that belief in
private or public. Affirmance poses no threat to
religious liberty, either on the facts of this dispute or
in general. To the contrary, reversal would upend
longstanding Free Exercise jurisprudence by granting
Phillips the unilateral right to excuse himself from
generally applicable legal duties having little or
nothing to do with his actual religious exercise. Such
22
a carve-out would have no limiting principle and
could lead to widespread undermining of civil rights
enforcement.
A. Affirmance Will Not Interfere With The
Exercise Of Core Freedoms To Believe
And Teach Religious Principles Concern-
ing Sexuality And Marriage, Or To Set
Parameters For Religiously Sanctioned
Marriage That May Differ From Those
Established Under Civil Law
The statutory scheme that Petitioners challenge
poses no risk to core freedoms to hold, express, and
practice a religious (or nonreligious) understanding of
marriage that is limited to the union of one man and
one woman. However government defines civil
marriage or determines who has a constitutional
right to participate in it, existing constitutional
principles protect the autonomy of religious entities
(or others) to teach their own principles concerning
sexuality and marriage and to preserve practices
pertaining to it that comport with their respective
tenets. See Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 195 (affirm-
ing principle that certain “matter[s are] ‘strictly
ecclesiastical,” meaning they are “the church’s alone”)
(citation omitted).
There accordingly is no basis for the concerns
expressed by certain religious amici supporting
Petitioners that “under the reasoning of the ourt
below, [a] state could even force an Orthodox rabbi to
preside at a wedding of two men, or of a Jew and a
non-Jew.”36 This Court made abundantly clear in
Obergefell “that religions, and those who adhere to
36s Brief of Amicus Curiae Agudath Israel of America in
Support of Petitioners at 3.
23
religious doctrines,” may continue to adhere to an
understanding of marriage as limited to different-sex
couples, and that “[t]he First Amendment ensures
that religious organizations and persons are given
proper protection” with respect to practices consistent
with that understanding.*’
It bears repeating that our Constitution’s
longstanding respect for religious autonomy has
permitted various religions to enforce religious sexual
norms or define religious marriage in ways that
would be unenforceable under civil law — e.g.,
prohibiting interfaith marriage, as Conservative
Judaism does;3® declining to recognize the union of
those civilly divorced and remarried, as Roman
Catholicism does;39 or discouraging interracial
marriage, as the Mormon Church did well after this
Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967),
that the Constitution requires states to allow
interracial civil marriages.*°
The existence and persistence of such differences
show why affirmance here will not burden
fundamental religious exercise rights pertaining to
37 The Court also made clear that “(t]he same is true of
those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons.”
Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at 2607.
38 Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism, Conservative
View on Intermarriage (Mar. 7, 1995), http://www.mazorguide.
com/living/Denominations/conservative-intermarriage.htm.
38° «United ~=States Conference Of Catholic Bishops,
Compendium — Catechism Of The Catholic Church, { 349 (2006).
40 See Interracial Marriage Discouraged, The Deseret
News, June 17, 1978, at 4 (“Now, the brethren feel that it is not
the wisest thing to cross racial lines in dating and marrying.”
(quoting President Spencer W. Kimball in a 1965 address to
students at Brigham Young University)).
24
marriage. Post-Obergefell, religions and persons of
faith like Petitioners remain free to define religious
marriage as limited to the union of one man and one
woman and to withhold spiritual blessing from any
marriages, or bar those entering into them from
being congregants at all, just as they have been free
to do so on grounds of faith, race, prior marital status,
deviation from sexual norms, or any other characteristic
deemed religiously significant. Consistent with this
principle, CADA itself provides that a “([pjlace of
public accommodation’ shall not include a church,
synagogue, mosque, or other place that is principally
used for religious purposes.” Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-34-
601(1); see also 2008 Colo. Legis. Serv. Ch. 341 (S.B.
08~—200) (West) (including same provision in version
of law in effect during time relevant to this case).
Thus, faith groups have complete discretion with
respect to what marriages they will solemnize or
celebrate within their places of worship.
Nor is there any basis for various arguments
suggesting that Petitioners or others could somehow
be coerced into actually “participating” in religious
services they find offensive. Free Exercise guarantees
obviously bar the state from declaring, as certain
amici fovoring reversal suggest is possible, what
liturgy ur religious documents a clergymember must
include in a wedding ceremony.*! CADA in no way
41‘ Brief of Freedom X and Rabbi Dovid Breesman as Amici
Curiae in Support of Petitioners at 17. Other amici supporting
Petitioners argue — citing nothing — that “in the typical religious
wedding vendor case, the vendor is required by the State to
participate in, facilitate, and help celebrate the wedding
ceremony.” Becket Br. at 9. But this is merely loose rhetoric.
Bakers and other vendors are not literally required to
participate in religious ceremonies in obvious violation of their
Free Exercise rights, any more than a florist or caterer or linen
25
forces Petitioners to participate in religious rites —
merely to sell the same products te same-sex couples
that they sell in the stream of commerce to anyone
else who walks into their shop. Such enforcement of
an ordinary public accommodation provision comes
nowhere close to threatening core Free Exercise
rights. As this Court observed in Smith, “[t]he free
exercise of religion means, first and foremost, the
right to believe and profess whatever religious
doctrine one desires.” 494 U.S. at 877. CADA’s
enforcement against Petitioners’ business conduct is
thus distinct from what the “First Amendment
obviously excludes,” namely, “all ‘governmental
regulation of religious beliefs as such,” Jd. (quoting
Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 402 (1963). Nor
does its enforcement “compel affirmation of religious
belief, see Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961),
punish the expression of religious doctrines [the
government] believes to be false, United States v.
Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 86-88 (1944), impose special
disabilities on the basis of religious views or religious
status, see McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618 (1978); . . .
or lend {government} power to one or the other side in
controversies over religious authority or dogma, see
Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U.S. 440,
445, 452 (1969).” Smith, 494 U.S. at 877.
B. Affirmance Will Not Impermissibly Burden
Petitioners’ Free Exercise Rights
Notwithstanding the lack of any direct impact on
actual religious practice or observance, Petitioners
argue that they are constitutionally entitled to refuse
-- - —_—— —— — — <2
supply company is religiously coerced by having to furnish
services or materials on a non-discriminatory basis.
26
to sell wedding cakes to same-sex couples based, in
part, on an exceptionally broad and unprecedented
Free Exercise argument. This claim turns on
Phillips’s view that “marriage has_ inherently
religious significance” and that he “considers himself
‘an active participant’ in that sacred event’
“Irjegardiless of whether his clients plan an overtly
religious wedding.” Pet. Br. at 38 (emphasis added).
But the Free Exercise Clause has never been given
such a broad construction, and even certain religious
amici supporting Petitioners concede that “[rjeligious
exemptions that touch on the commercial sphere
must be carefully defined.”*2 Petitioners’ arguments
attempt no such careful definition and have no
limiting principle that would keep the exemption
from gutting civil rights enforcement. On its face,
CADA regulates only commercial activity, and does
so in a neutral way that applies to everyone and
without respect to anyone’s religious views.
Petitioners’ marketing of wedding cakes to the
general public is, undeniably, commercial activity
rendering the bakery a public accommodation under
state law. It would be hard to conceive of a setting
more appropriate for invocation of the rule that
religious convictions do not trump “the obligation to
comply with a valid and neutral law of general
applicability.” Smith, 494 U.S. at 879. The Free
Exercise claim fails here for several reasons.
First, Petitioners’ conduct in refusing to sell
wedding cakes to same-sex couples is not directly
related to actual religious ritual or observance.‘
42 ~=6CLS Br. at 11.
43 This Court has recognized that, while “a determination
of what is a ‘religious’ belief or practice entitled to constitutional
protection may present a most delicate question, the very
27
Petitioners describ a Phillips cake “as the iconic
centerpiece of [a] marriage celebration, announcl[ing}
through Phillips’s voice that a marriage has occurred
and should be celebrated.” Pet. Br. at 1-2. Amici
here—hundreds of whom have presided over
countless religious wedding ceremonies — respectfully
submit that apart from the fact that wedding cakes
are not religious icons, it is typically a wedding
officiant who proclaims “that a marriage has
occurred.” Jd. Phillips is not a wedding officiant,
ordained or otherwise, nor has he tied his business
craft to any recognizable religious ritual. While
certain amici supporting Petitioners claim that
Phillips “custom designs each cake to express and
reflect God’s design for marriage as a union of a man
and woman,”*4 Masterpiece Cakeshop does not
actually purport to market itself as a crafter of
religious baked goods or argue that its cakes
themselves express or reflect a religious viewpoint
about the nature of marriage. See ACLU Br. at 7
(noting that CCRC found Phillips’s bakery “did not
claim to be a business principally operated for
religious purposes” (citing JA 71, 72, 80, 81)).
Petitioners’ citation-laden discussion of the cultural
and historical significance of wedding cakes (Pet. Br.
at 6-8) fails to include a single reference to a religious
or theological authority, and contains no discussion of
religious understandings of marriage per se, let alone
concept of ordered liberty precludes allowing every person to
make his own standards on matters of conduct in which society
as a whole has important interests.” Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406
U.S. 205, 215-16 (1972).
44 Brief of Amici Curiae Ethics & Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention at 27 (citing
Pet. Br. at 5-8).
28
of cakes used to celebrate marriages, religious or
otherwise. See id. Thus, no matter how “elaborately
designed, intricately constructed, and _ typically
tiered” Phillips’s cakes may be, id. at 7, a Phillips
cake is a cake, not a chuppah, a communion wafer, or
a Quran — sacred objects intimately and unmistakably
associated with many Jewish, Christian, and Islamic
marriage rite celebrations. Nor, obviously, is a Phillips
cake a wedding, religious or otherwise. It is thus
quite a stretch for religious amici supporting
Petitioners to argue that this case “involves a right to
act on conscience in a_ ~vreligious context —in
connection with a wedding” or is about being forced
“to participate in specific rituals.”46 Indeed, neither
Phillips nor his cake would have actually
“participated” in a wedding at all; the cake Craig and
Mullins ultimately obtained from another Colorado
baker was served at a _ reception roughly two
thousand miles away from their actual wedding,
which occurred in Massachusetts. See Pet. Br. at 10
(citing JA175-76).
Finally, while Phillips may believe that weddings
carry religious meaning, he does not contend that he
inquires whether different-sex couples to whom he
readily sells wedding cakes conceive of their
impending union in religious terms that comport with
his own — or in religious terms at all. If the essence
of Phillips’s objection is being forced to “participate”
in any marriage other than one that is “a sacred
union” that “represents the relationship of Jesus
Christ and His Church,” Pet. Br. at 9 (citing JA157-
58), what about weddings of agnostics or atheists?
Jews or Muslims? All of these, apparently, may buy
45 ‘CLS Br. at 3 (emphasis added).
46 = Becket Br. at 4, 6-12.
29
a Masterpiece wedding cake even though their unions
surely fail to comport with Petitioners’ religious
vision. It is thus clear that Phillips’s refusal to serve
Craig and Mullins, while rooted in sincere religious
belief, is less about the religious content of their
wedding and more a function of who they are — a
same-sex couple.*’
Second, even assuming, arguendo, that Petitioners’
conduct at issue involved some limited degree of
cognizable religious expression, that fact alone does
not create an automatic exemption from compliance
with a _ neutral, generally applicable public
accommodation statute. As citizens, we are required
to comply with a wide range of neutral laws that may
be inconsistent with our religious convictions relating
to taxation, public health, economic regulation, the
selective service, and more. Smith, 494 U.S. at 878-
80 (summarizing cases). In Smith, this Court held
that even a genuine and sincere religious practice —
in that case, “ingest[ion of] peyote for sacramental
purposes at a ceremony of the Native American
Church,” 494 U.S. at 874 — could legally be prohibited
by an otherwise lawful statute regulating controlled
substances. The Court expressly rejected the gist of
Petitioners’ argument here — that “when otherwise
prohibitable conduct is accompanied by religious
convictions, not only the conviction but the conduct
47 This is made clear by Phillips’s conduct in other
instances. For example, he declines to sell Halloween-themed
baked goods — or baked goods with vulgar expressions — to
anyone because the form of expression itself violates his
religious beliefs. Pet. Br. at 9 (citing JA165). But he does not
decline to sell wedding cakes to people whose definition of
marriage violates his religious beliefs unless it is for the
marriage of a same-sex couple.
30
itself must be free from government regulation.” dd.
at 872.
As Petitioners concede, Smith will “insulate[]” a
“generally applicable law ... from strict-scrutiny
review.” Pet. Br. at 46; see also Smith, 494 U.S. at
885 (“The government’s ability to enforce generally
applicable prohibitions of socially harmful conduct,
like its ability to carry out other aspects of public
policy, cannot depend on measuring the effects of a
governmental action on a religious objector’s spiritual]
development.” (quotation and citation omitted)).
CADA’s application to Masterpiece Cakeshop, as to
all other businesses open to the public, is valid
whether or not it was necessary to achieve a
compelling interest. Jd.
Petitioners’ attempt to come within the ambit of
Lukumi rather than Smith on the ground that their
religious views are being unfairly singled out for
suppression is groundless. Lukumi struck down a
statute based on evidence that it was crafted to effect
“suppression of the central element of the Santeria
worship service” by defining “sacrifice’ ... [to]
exclude[] almost all killings of animals except for
religious sacrifice” but expressly exempted kosher
slaughter. 508 U.S. at 534-36. While amici
acknowledge and indeed embrace the need to protect
minority religious views from unfair government
suppression, that is not what is going on here. This
is not, like Lukumi, a case of “religious gerry-
mander[ing],” id. at 534-35, aimed at legally
burdening a particular faith or viewpoint. Rather,
CADA prohibits a business owner serving the general
public from discriminating against LGBT customers
regardless of the owner’s religious affiliation or
beliefs (or lack thereof), and whether or not religious
affiliation or belief is the reason for the
31
discrimination. The fact that CADA applies to
Petitioners’ conduct and not to the conduct of
someone whose religion does not tell them to violate a
public accommodation statute does not mean that
Petitioners’ beliefs are being “target[ed].” Pet. Br. at
15. Significantly, both Smith and Lukumi dealt with
prohibition of conduct that was itself undeniably
religious — particular sacred rituals of the Native
American Church and Santeria, respectively. Such
regulation of actual religious practice inherently gives
rise to constitutional concerns of a different character
than religiously neutral laws, like CADA, that
regulate only commercial conduct.
Third, the exemption for which Petitioners argue
admits of no coherent limiting principle and thus
would seriously undermine public accommodation
civil rights enforcement. If something as attenuated
from actual religious observance as a cake sold by a
bakery open to the public may trigger an exemption
from neutral enforcement of a public accommodation
law, surely florists, caterers, venue owners, and
invitation printers that object to being forced to
“participate” in the wedding of a same-sex couple will
assert their own right to a constitutional exemption.
Such claims could extend beyond weddings to provide
a pretext for discrimination by those providing
everyday commercial goods and services for bar
mitzvahs, confirmations, funerals, or any other event
with religious significance. This would indeed permit
“each conscience [to be] a law unto itself,” Smith, 494
U.S. at 890, yielding a slippery slope that affirmance
would altogether avoid.*8
48 For example, certain amici supporting Petitioners urge
that “the Free Exercise Clause extends to any conduct that could
constitute religiously prohibited substantial participation in a
32
Nor would such claims logically be limited to
discrimination against LGBT individuals. A baker
(or caterer or other vendor) who harbored a deep
religious conviction that celebrating a marriage
between people of different races would be
“sacrilegious” (Pet. Br. at 9) could use the precedent
of this case to argue for his own exemption. And if
private religious convictions were all one needed to be
exempted from the general application of civil rights
laws, those religiously opposed to the races mixing
could upend fifty years of precedent to reinstate
segregated lunch counters. See Newman v. Piggie
Park Enters., Inc., 390 U.S. 400, 402 n.5 (1968)
(deeming “patently frivolous” restaurant’s claimed
ceremony” — suggesting that a Free Exercise exemption could be
claimed even by “[t]he owner of a chartered bus service...
asked to transport guests to a same-sex wedding.” Brief of
Amicus Curiae of the National Jewish Commission on Law and
Public Affairs (““COLPA”) Filed on Behalf of Orthodox Jewish
Organizations in Support of Petitioners at 3 (emphasis added).
Other amici attempt to open the floodgate of claims by declaring
that “free exercise of religion by secular vocations in the
marketplace should be no less protected than sacred vocations in
the ministry.” Brief of Amici Curiae Ethics & Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, et al. at 7 —
essentially an argument to extend the “ministerial exception”
recognized in Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 194-95, to exempt
from many forms of government regulation the conduct of lay
individuals having no official church role, based merely on the
subjective assertion that their commercial activities constitute
religiously inspired “vocations.” This would radically remake
Free Exercise law by expanding an exemption previously limited
to professionals with a direct role in conveying a religious
institution’s message and carrying out its mission. See id. at
191-92: see also id. at 198-99 (Alito, J., concurring) (observing
that in such analyses “courts should focus on the function
performed by persons who work for religious bodies” (emphasis
added)).
33
free exercise right to refuse service to African
American customers in violation of Civil Rights Act of
1964).
The Court should avoid such untoward results by
rejecting Petitioners’ claimed Free Exercise right to
exempt themselves from compliance with Colorado’s
civil rights law. Business owners like Phillips who
sell everyday goods to the general public and are
religiously offended by what purchasers might intend
to do with the products they sell are not entitled to
have the state eliminate their discomfort by
abridging the rights of others in the _ public
marketplace. See United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252,
261 (1982) (“[E]very person cannot be shielded from
all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of
the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers
of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a
matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own
conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to
be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are
binding on others in that activity.”)
Requiring equal treatment for same-sex couples
like Craig and Mullins will not harm the religious
liberty fundamental to this nation’s founding
identity, but will merely affirm their and other LGBT
persons fundamental dignity. Here, Phillips — a
business owner purportedly serving wedding cakes to
the general public — turned Craig and Mullins away,
concluding they were not entitled to buy his product
because their pending wedding was not and could not
be a “sacred union” according to Phillips’s religious
beliefs. That Craig and Mullins secured another cake
elsewhere for free may have saved them money but
has nothing to do with the dignity interest at stake in
this case; the issue is full participation in society, not
access to baked goods. See Newman v. Piggie Park
34
Enters., Inc., 256 F. Supp. 941 (D.S.C. 1966)
(rejecting arguments by business owner advancing
free exercise claim as defense in racial discrimination
suit that African American customers could eat
elsewhere), aff'd in relevant part and rev‘ in part on
other grounds, 377 F.2d 433 (4th Cir. 1967), affd and
modified on other grounds, 390 U.S. 400 (1968). As
Justice Goldberg observed in Heart of Atlanta Motel,
“(t]he primary purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
... [wa]s the vindication of human dignity and not
mere economics.” 379 U.S. at 291 (Goldberg, J.,
concurring) (emphasis added). Affirmance here
would be consistent with longstanding assumptions
underlying America’s promise of equal civil rights
and would comport with undersigned Amici’s belief —
as a matter of law, religious faith, and fundamental
decency — that LGBT persons should be treated with
equal dignity and respect in civil society.
35
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Amici respectfully
submit that the Court should affirm the judgment of
the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Respectfully submitted,
JEFFREY S. TRACHTMAN
Counsel of Record
NORMAN C. SIMON
JASON M. MOFF
KURT M. DENK
EVIE SPANOS
TIMUR TUSIRAY
KRAMER LEVIN NAFTALIS
& FRANKEL LLP
1177 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
jtrachtman@kramerlevin.com
Counsel for Amici Curiae
October 30, 2017
APPENDIX
la
APPENDIX A:
STATEMENTS OF INTEREST
OF AMICI CURIAE
Amicus curiae The Central Conference of American
Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 2,000
Reform rabbis, opposes discrimination against all
individuals, including gays and lesbians, for the
stamp of the Divine is present in each and every
human being.
Amicus curiae The Rocky Mountain Conference of
the United Church of Christ is the conference of UCC
congregations in Colorado, as well as Utah and
Wyoming, who support and nurture one another in
local and wider ministry and mission. The United
Church of Christ is a Protestant denomination of
5,000 churches and nearly 900,000 members
throughout the United States that proclaims the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, celebrates diversity, honors
the gifts of all people, and seeks justice and peace for
everyone.
Amicus curiae The Reconstructionist Rabbinical
Association (“RRA”), established in 1974, is the
professional association of Reconstructionist rabbis.
Comprised of over 300 rabbis, the RRA represents the
rabbinic voice within the Reconstructionist movement.
Amicus curiae The Union for Reform Judaism,
whose 9(9 congregations across North America
include 1.5 million Reform Jews, is committed to
ensuring equality for all of God’s children, regardless
of sexual orientation.
Amicus curiae Unitarian Universalist Association
was founded in 1961 and has nurtured a heritage of
providing a strong voice for social justice and liberal
religion. Unitarian Universalism is a caring, open-
2a
minded faith community that traces its roots in
North America back to the Pilgrims and the Puritans.
Amicus curiae Covenant Network of Presbyterians,
a broad-based, national group of clergy and lay
leaders, seeks to support the mission and unity of the
Presbyterian Church (USA), articulate and act on the
church’s historic, progressive vision, work for a fully
inclusive church, and find ways to live out the
graciously hospitable gospel by living together with
all our fellow members in the Presbyterian Church
(USA).
Amicus curiae Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, and Queer Concerns (“FLGBTQC’) is a
faith community within the Religious Society of
Friends. FLGBTQC deeply honors, affirms, and
upholds that of God in all people.
Amicus curiae Methodist Federation for Social
Action mobilizes clergy and laity within The United
Methodist Church to take action on issues of peace,
poverty and people’s rights within the church, the
nation, and the world.
Amicus curiae More Light Presbyterians represents
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the
life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) and in society.
Amicus curiae Muslims for Progressive Values is
guided by the following ten principles, each of which
is rooted in Islam: collective identity, equatity,
separation of religious and state authorities, freedom
of speech, universal human rights, gender equality,
LGBTQ inclusion, critical analysis and interpretation,
compassion, and diversity.
Amicus curiae The Open and Affirming Coalition of
the United Church of Christ represents 1,200
3a
congregations in the UCC with nearly 250,000
members that, after a period of study, dialogue and
prayer, have adopted a covenant, of welcome to
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians.
Open and Affirming churches’ support’ the
relationships of their LGBT members, recognize their
marriages, and advocate for their LGBT neighbors
when their rights or dignity are under attack.
Amicus curiae Reconciling Ministries Network
serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender United
Methodists and their allies to transform their world
into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
Reconciling Ministries Network envisions a vibrant
Wesleyan movement that is _ biblically and
theologically centered in the full inclusion of God’s
children.
Amicus curiae ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans For
Full Participation embodies, inspires, advocates and
organizes for the acceptance and full participation of
people of all sexual orientations and gender identities
within the Lutheran communion, its ecumenical and
global partners, and society at large.
Amicus curiae Religious Institute, Inc. is a multi-
faith organization whose thousands of supporters
include clergy and other religious leaders from more
than 50 faith traditions. The Religious Institute
partners with the leading mainstream and
progressive religious institutions in the United
States.
Amicus curiae Women of Reform Judaism
represents more than 40,000 women in nearly 400
women’s groups in North America and around the
world and comes to this issue rooted in a commitment
to speaking and _ acting forcefully against
discrimination.
4a
Amici curiae leaders of United States religious
communities spanning a rich diversity of American
faith traditions include: Imam Daayiee Abdullah,
Executive Director of MECCA Institute, Light of
Reform Mosque, Muslim — Sunni, Washington, DC;
Upasika Cleis Abeni, Director of Engagement, Many
Voices, TransBuddhists, Buddhist, Baltimore, MD;
Rabbi Joel N Abraham, Rabbi, Temple Sholom of
Scotch Plains, Jewish — Reform, Fanwood, NJ; Rabbi
Steven Abraham, Rabbi, Beth El Synagogue, Jewish
~— Conservative, Omaha, NE; The Rev. Michael
Adams, Rector, All Saints’ Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Austin, TX; Reverend Ron Adams,
Pastor, Madison Mennonite Church, Mennonite,
Fitchburg, WI; Dr. Michael Adee, Director, Global
Faith and Justice Project, Presbyterian Church USA,
Santa Fe, NM; Rabbi David Adelson, Dean, Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jewish —
Reform, New York, NY; Rev. Dan Adolphson,
Moderator, Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance, Disciples of
Christ, Christian Church, Minneapolis, MN; Rev. Dr.
Tim Ahrens, Senior Minister, First Congregational,
United Church of Christ, Columbus, OH; Robert
Thomas, Episcopal Church, Seward, AK; Rev. Brian
Akers, Senior Minister/Spiritual Leader, Centers for
Spiritual Living, New Thought, Columbia, MD;
Reverend April Alford-Harkey, Reverend Deacon, St
Monica’s, Episcopal Church, Milford, CT; Rev. Marie
Alford-Harkey, President of Religious Institute,
Religious Institute, Metropolitan Community
Church, Bridgeport, CT; Rev. Charles Alger, Pastor,
Waiola United Church of Christ, United Church of
Christ, Lahaina, HI; Rev. Dr. Charles Alkula, Pastor,
Stevensville United Methodist Church, United
Methodist Church, Stevensville, MT; Reverend Carol
Allen, Spiritual Director, Presbytery of Chicago,
5a
Presbyterian Church USA, Chicago, IL; Rabbi Katy
Allen, Rabbi, Ma’yan Tikvah, Jewish — Other, Wayland,
MA; Rev. Tadd Allman-Morton, Pastor, Westhampton
Congregational United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Montgomery, MA; Rabbi Renni
Altman, Associate Dean, HUC-JIR, NY Campus,
Jewish — Reform, Great Neck, NY; Rev. Dr. Eileen
Altman, Associate Pastor, First Congregational
Church of Palo Alto, United Church of Christ, Palo
Alto, CA; Rev. Dr. Israel Alvaran, Western Regional
Organizer, Reconciling Ministries Network, United
Methodist Church, San Francisco, CA; Sister
Gloriamarie Amalfitano, All Souls’ Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, San Diego, CA; Pastor Elyse
Ambrose, Associate Pastor, Church of the Village
(NYC), United Methodist Church, New York, NY;
Rev. Dr. David Ames, Retired, Center for
Reconciliation, Episcopal Church, Providence, RI;
Rev. Craig Amlin, Zion UCC, United Church of
Christ, Indianapolis, IN; Rev. Dr. Brian Ammons,
Chaplain and Director of S>iritual Life, Warren
Wilson College, Alliance of Baptists, Asheville, NC;
Rev. Dr. Kharma Amos, Associate Director of
Formation and Leadership Development, Metro-
politan Community Church, Lewes, DE; Rev. Tyler
Amundson, Lead Pastor, Shiloh United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Billings, MT;
Roshi Susan Myoyu Andersen, Teacher, Great Plains
Zen Center, Buddhist, Monroe, WI; Reverend Bobbi
Anderson, Retired, Seymour Sevier County, TN:
Reverend Allan Anderson, Extension Ministry —
Pastoral Psychotherapy, Pathways Counseling
Associates, Inc., United Methodist Church, Lowell,
MA; Reverend Marty Anderson, Co-Pastor, Common-
wealth Baptist Church, Alliance of Baptists,
Alexandria, VA; Reverend Cynthia Alice Anderson,
6a
Senior Minister, Christ Church Unity, Unity,
Orlando, FL; The Reverend Dr. Linda Anderson,
Community Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellow-
ship at Stony Brook, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Stony Brook, NY; Pastor P} Pamelajune
Anderson, Founder, Space for Grace United Church
of Christ, United Church of Christ, Holt, MI; The
Reverend Susan Anderson-Smith, St. Mark’s Church
in-the-Bowery, Episcopal Church, New York, NY; The
Rt. Rev. Mare Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of California, Episcopal Church, San
Francisco, CA; The Reverend Carol Anthony, Vicar,
St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Philadelphia, PA; Reverend Susan Archer, Retired,
UU Fellowship of Winston-Salem, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Greensboro, NC; Reverend
Kevin Arensman, Pastor, Sayre Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Sayre, PA;
Reverend Belle Armstrong, Retired, MCC of
Amarillo, Metropolitan Community Church,
Amarillo, TX; Rev. Dr. Dale Arnink, Retired,
Unitarian Church of Los’ Alamos, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Los Alamos, NM; Ordained
United Annie Arnoldy, Pastor of Discipleship, St.
Andrew UMC, United Methodist Church, Highlands
Ranch, CO; Reverend Donald Ashmall, Council
Minister, International Council of Community
Churches, Gouldsboro, ME; Reverend David Aslesen,
Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Park Ridge,
United Methodist Church, Park Ridge, IL; Rev.
Aqueelah As-Salaam, Spiritual Director, The Salome
Center, United Church of Christ, Atlanta, GA;
Reverend Nelma Ruth Atterberry, Retired, Stillwater
FUMC, United Methodist Church, Stillwater, OK;
The Rev. Deacon Anne Auchincloss, Deacon, Church
of the Epiphany, Episcopal Church, New York, NY;
7a
Rabbi Craig Axler, Senior Rabbi, Temple Isaiah,
Jewish — Reform, Fulton, MD; Pastor Jim Wiltbank,
Pastor, St. Francis on the Foothills, United Methodist
Church, Tucson, AZ; Marci Beaudoin, Director of
Faith Formation Ministry, Valley Unitarian
Universalist Congregation, Chandler, AZ; Pastor
Phillip Baber, Senior Pastor, Unitarian Universalist
Church of Jacksonville, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Jacksonville, FL; Rabbi Larry Bach,
Rabbi, Judea Reform Congregation, Durham, NC;
The Rev. Ed Bacon, Retired, All Saints Church,
Episcopal Church, Hoover, AL; The Rev. Demery
Bader-Saye, Regular Supply Priest, St. Julian of
Norwich Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Austin, TX; The Rev. Dr. David Bahr, Pastor, Park
Hill Congregational United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Denver, CO; Rev. Dr. Gerritt,
Retired, PC(USA), Presbyterian Church USA, East
Stroudsburg, PA; Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Baker-Smith,
Retired, PC(USA), Presbyterian Church USA, East
Stroudsburg, PA; The Rev. Chris Ballard, Trinity-St.
John’s Episcopal Church, 400 Families, Episcopal
Church, Hewlett, NY; Vice President Ibtesam Barazi,
Vice President, Islamic Association of WV, Muslim —
Sunni, Charleston, WV; The Reverend Annanda
Barclay, Associate Pastor, First Presbyterian Church
Palo Alto, Presbyterian Church USA, Palo Alto, CA;
Rev. Dr. TK Barger, Minister, First Unitarian
Church of Toledo, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Toledo, OH; Rev. Dr. Lee Barker, President,
Meadville Lombard Theological School, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Chicago, IL; The Rev. Ann
Barker, Rector, St. John’s’ Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Arlington, VA; Rev. Ann Barner,
Retired Pastor, Presbyterian Church USA,
Rockingham, VA; Reverend Susan Barnes, Pastor, St.
8a
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church
USA, Billings, MT; The Reverend Rebecca Barnes,
Priest-in-Charge, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Scranton, PA; Rabbi Benjamin
Barnett, Rabbi, Havurah Shalom, Jewish —
Reconstructionist, Portland, OR; Reverend Tracie
Barrett-Welser, Minister, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Winter Haven, FL; Rabbi Eliot Baskin,
Community Chaplain, Jewish Family Service, Jewish
— Reform, Greenwood Village, CO; Reverend Alice
Batcher, Supply Preacher, NJ Association UCC,
United Church of Christ, Lakewood, NJ; Reverend
Jeannie Bates, Honorably Retired, First Central
Congregational Church, United Church of Christ,
Omaha, NE; Rev. Richard Bates, Retired, United
Methodist Church, Austin, TX; Rabbi Rachel Bat-Or,
Director of JQ Helpline and Inclusion Trainings, JQ
International, Jewish — Conservative, Los Angeles,
CA; Rabbi David Dunn Bauer, Acting Director of
Recruitment, Admissions, and Student Life,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Jewish —
Reconstructionist, Elkins Park, PA; Rev. Dr.
Constance Baugh, Retired, First Churches of
Northampton, Presbyterian Church USA, Goshen,
MA; The Reverend Barbara Baxter, supply priest, St.
Barnabas’ Episcopal Mission, Episcopal Church,
Falconer, NY; Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara,
Executive Director, Campaign for Southern Equality,
United Church of Christ, Asheville, NC; Reverend
Margaret Beard, Retired, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Fort Myers, FL; Rev. Kelley Becker,
Senior Minister, Disciples Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Bartlesville,
OK; Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker, Rabbi, Gishrei
Shalom Jewish Congregation, Jewish — Reform, New
York, NY; Reverend Emily Bel, Pastor, Forgiving
9a
Heart Church, Columbus, GA; Rabbi Marci Bellows,
Rabbi, Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek,
Jewish — Reform, Chester, CT; Reverend Dr. Virginia
Bemis, Retired, Virginia Bemis, Ashland, OH;
Brother William Henry Benefield, BSG, Gregorian
Friar, Brotherhood of St Gregory, Episcopal Church,
San Antonio, TX; Cantor Yitzhak Ben-Moshe,
Spiritual Leader, Congregation Beth El, Jewish —
Conservative, Austin, TX; The Rev. Dr. Virginia
Bennett, Retired, The Episcopal Church, Episcopal
Church, Missouri/Province V, MO; Rev. Steven
Benson, Emeritus, Northridge Lutheran, Lutheran —
ELCA, Fortine, MT; Pastor Don Benton, Pastor,
Sunrise UMC, United Methodist Church, Phoenix,
AZ; Rev. Joel Bergeland, Associate Pastor, Mount
Olivet Lutheran Church of Plymouth, Lutheran —
ELCA, Minneapolis, MN; Reverend Frank Bergen,
Priest Associate, St. Matthew’s, Episcopal Church,
Tucson, AZ; Rabbi Alexis Berk, Senior Rabbi, Touro
Synagogue, Jewish — Reform, New Orleans, LA;
Cantor Elizabeth Berke, Director of Continuing
Education, Anshe Emet Synagogue, Jewish —
Conservative, Chicago, IL; Cantor Julie Berlin,
Cantor, Temple Beth-El, Jewish — Reform, San
antonio, TX; Rabbi Amy Bernstein, Senior Rabbi,
Jewish — Reconstructionist, Pacific Palisades, CA;
Friend Jim Best, Floyd Friends Meeting
Representative, Floyd Friends Meeting/ Religious
Society of Friends, Quaker, Meadows of Dan, VA;
Rev. Sofia Betancourt, Assistant Professor of
Unitarian Universalist Theologies and Ethics, Starr
King School for the Ministry, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Oakland, CA; Rabbi Jonathan Biatch,
Rabbi, Temple Beth El, Jewish — Reform, Madison,
WI; Rev. Lindsay Louise Biddle, Minister Locum for
the Church of Scotland, Teaching Elder, Anderston
10a
Kelvingrove Parish Church in Glasgow, Scotland,
Presbyterian Church USA, Saint Louis Park, MN;
Rev. (Mrs.) Ruth Billington, Retired, Westminster
Presbyterian Church, Fort Collins, CO, Presbyterian
Church USA, Fort Collins, CO; Reverend Lee
Blaisdell, Senior Minister, Center for Spiritual Living
Laurel, Pentecostal, Catonsville, MD; Rev. Alan
Blakeburn, Pastor, Ellenberger United Church of
Christ, United Church of Christ, Indianapolis, IN;
Reverend Max Blalock, The William and Mary
Wesley Foundation, United Methodist Church,
Williamsburg, VA; Rev. Margaret Blanchard,
Episcopal Deacon, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Oak Hill, WV; Reverend Daryl
Blanksma, Senior Pastor, Trinity United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Eugene, OR; Rev.
Natalie Blasco, Associate Rector, St Mary Magdalene
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Coral Springs,
FL; Rev. Mary Beth Blinn, Pastor, Fairlington United
Methodist church, United Methodist Church,
Alexandria, VA; Rev. Tim Blodgett, Minister, South-
minster Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church
USA, Tulsa, OK; Reverend Bill Bloom, Min. of Music
and Clergy in Reside, United Christian Church,
Levittown, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church,
Ambler, PA; Reverend Lee Bluemel, Senior Minister,
North Parish of North Andover, Unitarian
Universalist Association, North Andover, MA; Rabbi
Neil Blumofe, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Agudas
Achim, Jewish — Conservative, Austin, TX; Reverend
Glynden Bode, Extension Ministry, Spirit’s Call
Ministries, United Methodist Church, Houston, TX;
The Rev. Matthew Bode, Pastor, Spirit of Hope,
Detroit Cooperative Church, Lutheran — ELCA,
Detroit, MI; Reverend Robin Bolen Anderson, Co-
Pastor, Commonwealth Baptist Church, Alliance of
lla
Baptists, Alexandria, VA; Rabbi Jason Bonder,
Assistant Rabbi / Educator, Temple Emanuel of
Tempe, Jewish — Reform, Tempe, AZ; Rev. Kayla
Bonewell, Senior Pastor, Church of the Open Arms &
Cathedral of Hope, United Church of Christ,
Oklahoma City, OK; Rev. Charles Booker, Pastor,
Presbyterian Church USA, Bethesda, MD; Father
Anthony Borka, Retired, American Old Catholic
Church, The Old Catholic Church, Province of the
U.S., Orlando, FL; Rev. Daniel Borysewicz, Hospice
Chaplain & Street Minister, Metropolitan Community
Church San Francisco, Metropolitan Community
Church, Oakland, CA; Rev. Trina Bose North, Senior
Pastor, Crown Heights UMC, United Methodist
Church, Edmond, OK; Rev. Dr. James Bouzard,
Director, Christ Chapel at Texas State, Lutheran —
ELCA, San Marcos, TX; Sen. Betty Boyd, Board
President — Colorado Religious Coalition for Repro-
ductive Choice, Augustana Lutheran Church,
Lutheran — ELCA, Lakewood, CO; Gregory Boyd,
Community Religious Educator, Unitarian Universalist
Association, South Pasadena, CA; Rev. Ty Bradley,
Minister of Social Justice, Sunshine Cathedral,
Metropolitan Community Church, Ft Lauderdale, FL;
Rev. Dr. Anita L. Bradshaw, Transitional Senior
Pastor, United Church of Christ, Minneapolis, MN;
Rev. Lyn Brakeman, Retired, St John’s Charlestown,
Episcopal Church, Cambridge, MA; Reverand Karen
Brammer, Minister, Fourth Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of Westchester, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Red Hook, NY; Dr. Calvin Brandenburg,
Retired, Calvin Brandenburg, Episcopal Church,
Brownsburg, IN; The Very Reverend Ellen Brauza,
Priest in Charge, St. Andrew’s, Episcopal Church,
Clarence, NV; Dr. Donald Bredthauer, Retired,
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
12a
Omaha, NE; Reverend James Bridges, Minister
Emeritus, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at
Rock Tavern, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Everett, WA; Rev. Jeff Briere, Minister, Holston
Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Johnson City, TN; Rev.
Judy Brock, Retired, First Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Frisco, TX; Fr.
Blaise Brockman, Associate Pastor, Holy Angels,
Roman Catholic, Arcadia, CA; Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker
Langston, Director, Disciples Justice Action Network,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Annapolis,
MD; Rev. James E Brooking, Pastor, West Covina
United Methodist, United Methodist Church, West
Covina, CA; The Reverend Lawrence Brown, Rector,
Trinity Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Fill-
more, CA; Rev. Kathy Brown, Pastor, New Life
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Moore, OK; Rev. Elder Rachelle Brown, Interim
Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches,
Metropolitan Community Church, Sarasota, FL;
Reverend Douglas Browne, Pastor, Westminster
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Columbus, OH; Rev. Jennifer Brownell, Pastor, First
Congregational UCC — Vancouver, United Church of
Christ, Vancouver, WA; Rev. Felicia Bruce, Interfaith
Ministries, Interfaith, Fort Pierce, FL; The Rt. Rev.
Diane Bruce, Bishop Suffragan, Episcopal Diocese of
Los Angeles, Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, CA;
Reverend Rebecca Bryan, Interim Senior Minister,
First Parish in Brookline, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Newton, MA; Rev. David Bryce, Senior
Minister, The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Belmont, MA; Rabbi
Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik, Rabbi, Temple Ahavat
Shalom, Jewish — Reform, Northridge, CA; The
l3a
Reverend Doc Kevin Buchanan, Transitional Pastor,
Central Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church
USA, Terre Haute, IN; Reverend Rosa Buffone,
Pastor, Holy Spirit Ecumenical Catholic Community,
Catholic, Newton, MA; Consecrated Deacon Richard
Buhl, Lutheran — ELCA, Orlando, FL; Rev. Rudolph
Bullman, Retired, Roman Catholic, Missoula, MT;
Bishop Pat Bumgardner, Executive Director, Global
Justice Institute and Senior Pastor, Metropolitan
Community Church of New York, Metropolitan
Community Church, New York, NY; The Rev. Peter
Bunder, Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Episcopal
Church, West Lafayette, IN; Rev. Michael Burke,
Rector/Sr. Pastor, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Anchorage, AK; Reverend Doctor
Andy Burnette, Senior Minister, Valley Unitarian
Universalist Congregation, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Phoenix, AZ; Pastor Charles Burnett-
Morrow, Sr. Pastor/Founder, Grace Oasis (aka — The
ONE Church In Christ Jesus), Pentecostal, Dallas,
TX; The Rev. Dr. Suzanne _ Burris, Pastor,
Congregational United Church of Christ of Mitchell,
United Church of Christ, Mitchell, SD; The Rev.
Grace Burson, Associate Transitional Pastor, Holy
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheran —
ELCA, Nashua, NH; Senior Pastor Victoria Burson,
Pastor/Leadership Coach, Metropolitan Community
Church, Middle River, MD; Rabbi Andrew Busch,
Rabbi, Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, Jewish —
Reform, Baltimore, MD; Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, Senior
Minister, The Riverside Church in the City of New
York, American Baptist USA, New York, NY;
Reverend Jennifer Butler, CEO, Faith in Public Life,
Interfaith, Washington, DC; Rev. Elizabeth Buxton,
Senior Pastor, United Methodist Church, Charlottes-
ville, VA; Reverend Mark Byrd, Senior Pastor, New
14a
Life Metropolitan Community Church of Hampton
Roads, Metropolitan Community Church, Virginia
Beach, VA; Bernard Schlager, Executive Director,
Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion
(CLGS), Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA;
Kathy Merkle-Raymond, Director of Communal Care,
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, Presbyterian
Church USA, Palo Alto, CA; Imam and President Ani
Zonneveld, Muslims for Progressive Values, Muslim —
Non-Sectarian, Los Angeles, CA; Reverend Katherine
Cadigan, Associate Rector, St. Augustine by-the-Sea
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Marina del Rey,
CA; Rev. Laurie Caesar, Spirit of Grace, Lutheran —
ELCA, Portland, OR; Sarah Caine, Assistant
Minister, UU Congregation of Fairfax, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Alexandria, VA; The Rev.
Dr. Elaine Caldbeck, Rector, Episcopal Church,
Bettendorf, LA; Rev. (Mr.) Ashley Calhoun, Retired,
Long’s Chapel UNC, United Methodist Church,
Wayensville, NC; Senior Pastor Kenny Callaghan,
Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of
Richmond, Metropolitan Community Church, Rich-
mond, VA; The Rev. Randy Callender, Rector, St.
Philips Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Annapolis, MD; Rabbi Jillian Cameron, Rabbi,
InterfaithFamily, Jewish — Other, Salem, MA; Rev.
Rebecca Cameron, Retired MHospital Chaplain,
Baptist, Stockton, CA; Rev. Madelyn Campbell,
Interim Minister, Bull Run Unitarian Universalists,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Arlington, VA;
Pastor Brian Campbell, Pastor, ONE in Christ
Lutheran Parish, Lutheran — ELCA, Greenwood, WI;
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Campbell, Interim Pastor,
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Gresham, Presbyterian
Church USA, Portland, OR; Reverend Doctor Katie
Cannon, Professor of Social Ethics, Presbyterian
15a
Church USA, Glen Allen, VA; Reverend Florence
Caplow, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of
Urbana Champaign, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Urbana, IL; Reverend Tom Capo,
Minister, DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Naperville, IL;
Rev. Rosemary Captain, Pastor, St. John United
Church of Christ, Fairview Heights, United Church
of Christ, Lebanon, IL; Reverend Michael Carbone,
Pastor, Be The Light, Dover, FL; Rev. Royal Carleton,
Chaplain, Inclusive Life Center, Omaha, NE; The
Rev. Dr. Katherine Carlson, Rector, All Saints
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, East Lansing,
MI; The Rev. Canon David Lee Carlson, Canon
Missioner, The Delaware Catskill Episcopal Ministry,
Episcopal Church, Port Jervis, NY; Rev. Dr. Joanne
Carlson Brown, Pastor, Tibbetts United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Seattle, WA; Rev.
Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull, Minister, Unitarian Universalist
Church in Meriden, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Middletown, CT; Rev. Dr. Jerry
Carpenter, Pastor, Weimar United Church of Christ,
United Church of Christ, Weimar, TX; Kathie
Carpenter, Chair of Open and Affirming Ministry
Teams, Mass Conference UCC and Needham MA
UCC, Needham Congregational UCC, United Church
of Christ, Roslindale, MA; Reverend (Dr.) Sarah
Carpenter, Ordained Minister, Retired, Dennis Union
Church, United Church of Christ, South Yarmouth,
MA; Rabbi Kenneth Carr, Rabbi, Temple Chayai
Shalom, Jewish — Reform, South Easton, MA; The
Rev. Diana Carroll, Rector, St. Luke’s Episcopal
Church, Episcopal Church, Annapolis, MD; Kelly
Carson, Hospice Chaplain, Mennonite Fellowship of
Bloomington, Mennonite, Bloomington, IN; Rev.
Jacalyn Carter, Senior Pastor, Table of Hope MCC,
16a
Metropolitan Community Church, Wichita, KS;
Reverend Douglass Cartwright, Pastor, First
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Albany, OR,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Albany, OR;
Reverend Melissa Carvill Ziemer, Acting Executive
Director, Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Easthampton,
MA; Rev. Patricia Case, Interim Pastor, Central
Christian Church — Lebanon, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Lebanon, IN; Rev. Dr. Michael
Castle, Senior Pastor, Harmony Creek Church,
United Church of Christ, Dayton, OH; Reverend
Barbara Cathey, Pastor, Edgewater Presbyterian
Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Chicago, IL; The
Rev. Christine Caton, Retired, Presbytery of
Southern New England, Presbyterian Church USA,
Old Lyme, CT; Reverend Dr. Neil Cazares-Thomas,
Senior Pastor, Cathedral of Hope United Church of
Christ, United Church of Christ, Dallas, TX; Bishop
Bud Cederholm, Retired, Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts, Episcopal Church, Plymouth, MA;
Reverand Ryan Chaddick, Church Planter/Mission
Developer, Bloom Lutheran Church, Lutheran —
ELCA, Valencia, CA; Pastor John Chaplin, Adjunct
Minister for LGBTQ Concerns & Community
Outreach, Urbandale United Church of Christ,
United Church of Christ, Des Moines, IA; Catherine
Chapman, Executive Director, Association of Welcom-
ing and Affirming Baptists (AWAB), Louisville, KY;
Rev. Mark Charlton, Auxiliary Pastor, Walnut Creek
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Antioch, CA; Rev. Leslie Chartier, Chaplain, Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Albany, OR; Rev. Joseph M
Cherry, Parish Minister, Unitarian Universalist
Society of Cleveland, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
l7va
tion, Cleveland Heights, OH; Rev. George A. Chien,
Assisting Clergy, Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford
CT, Episcopal Church, Hartford, CT; Rev. Jan
Christian, Congregational Life Staff, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Atascadero, CA; Rev. Dr. Regina
Christianson, Rector, Emmanuel Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Chatham, VA; Rev. Amber
Churchill, Director of Children and Family
Ministries, First Congregational United Church of
Christ Corvallis, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Albany, OR; Mr. Donald Clark, Convener,
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility/
UCC, United Church of Christ, Pleasant Hill, TN;
Rev. Jeff Clayton, Pastor, Southminster Presbyterian
Church PC(USA), Presbyterian Church USA, Prairie
Village, KS; Rev. Dr. David Cleaver-Bartholomew,
Pastor, Zion Lutheran Church — ELCA, Lutheran —
ELCA, Manlius, NY; Reverend Joe Cleveland,
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Saratoga Springs, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion, Saratoga Springs, NY; Rev. Jeni Markham
Clewell, Associate Pastor, Mosaic United Methodist,
United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City, OK; Rev.
Catharine Cline, Retired, United Church in
University Place, United Church of Christ, Tacoma,
WA; Reverend Steven Clunn, Transitional Leave,
United Methodist Church, Alexandria, VA; Sharon
Baker, Congregational Chair, Anabaptist, Mennonite,
Palmer Lake, CO; Reverend Joe Cobb, Governing
Board, Metropolitan Community Churches,
Metropolitan Community Church, Roanoke, VA;
Practice Leader Roger Cochran, PhD, Practice Leader
and Lay Ordained Buddhist, South Atlanta Zen
Sangha, Buddhist, Peachtree City, GA; Cantor Jen
Cohen, Cantor, Temple Beth Sholom, Jewish —-
18a
Conservative, Cherry Hill, NJ; Rabbi Heidi Cohen,
Rabbi, Temple Beth Sholom, Jewish — Reform, Irvine,
CA; Rabbi James Cohn, Rabbi, Temple Israel, Jewish
— Reform, Charleston, WV; The Reverend Jean
Collins, Rector, St. James Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Lewistown, MT; Reverend CC
Coltrain, Senior Minister, Center for Spiritual Living
Greater Dayton, New Thought, Dayton, OH; Lauren
Colwell, Pastor for Christian Education and
Community Engagement, Oakhurst Baptist Church,
Alliance of Baptists, Decatur, GA; Rev. Sarah Combs,
Ordained Minister, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Oklahoma City, OK; Rev. Dr. Valda Combs,
Pastor, United Methodist Church, Prairie View, TX;
Reverend Jim Conn, Retired, United Methodist
Church, Santa Monica, CA; Rabbi Julian Cook,
Retired, Temple Emanuel, Jewish — Reform, Denver,
CO; Rabbi Mychal Copeland, Rabbi, Congregation
Sha’ar Zahav, Jewish — Reform, Mountain View, CA;
The Rev. Dr. John D. Copenhaver, Professor
Emeritus of Religion and Philosphy, Shenandoah
University, United Methodist Church, Winchester,
VA; Bishop Kenneth Corbin, Bishop, American Old
Catholic Church, Catholic, Lindenhurst, NY; Rabbi
Heidi Coretz, Rabbi, Shir Tikvah (Frisco, TX), Jewish
— Reform, Dallas, TX; The Rev. Den. Catherine
Costas, Deacon, Diocese of California, Episcopal
Church, Mountain View, CA; Rev. Darren Cowdrey,
Pastor, United Methodist Church, Rancho Santa
Margarita, CA; Rev. Deborah Cox, Associate Pastor,
Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, Metro-
politan Community Church, Waterford, MI; Rev. Lyn
Cox, Interim Minister, Unitarian Church of Harris-
burg, Unitarian Universalist Association, Harrisburg,
PA; Reverend Katie Lee Crane, Minister Emerita,
First Parish of Sudbury, Unitarian Universalist
19a
Association, West Roxbury, MA; Deacon Joan
Crawford, Deacon, Guardian Angels Ecumenical
Catholic Communion, Catholic, Tempe, AZ; Rabbi
Menachem Creditor, Senior Rabbi, Congregation
Netivot Shalom, Jewish — Conservative, Berkeley,
CA; The Rev. Margot Critchfield, Retired, Episcopal
Church, Sandwich, MA; Rev. Michael Cronin,
Associate Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of
San Francisco, Metropolitan Community Church, San
Francisco, CA; The Rev. Karen Crosby, Rector, St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Frostburg, Episcopal
Church, Frostburg, MD; Rev. Michael Crumpler,
LGBTQ and _ Intercultural Programs Manager,
Unitarian Universalist Associate, Unitarian
Universalist Association, New York, NY; Reverend
Jack Cuffari, Minister/Spiritual Director’ in
Residence, First Congregational Church of Montclair,
United Church of Christ, Nutley, NJ; Reverend Sadie
Cullumber, Senior Pastor, Harbor Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Costa Mesa,
CA; Reverend lan Cummins, Co-Lead Pastor,
Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church,
Presbyterian Church USA, Denver, CO; Rev. Jim
Cunningham, Retired, Brunswick, OH; Pastor
Donald Cunningham, United Methodist Church,
Alameda, CA; Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, University
Chaplain and Director of the Center for Peace and
Spirituality, Pacific University, United Church of
Christ, Portland, OR; Reverend Leonard Curry,
Associate Minister, Greater Bethel AME Church,
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Nashville, TN;
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Cuthbertson, Parish Associate,
Presbytery of Santa Fe, Presbyterian Church USA,
Albuquerque, NM; Rabbi Matt Cutler, Senior Rabbi,
Congregation Gates of Heaven, Jewish — Reform,
Schenectady, NY; Rev. Burgess Cuzner, Retired,
20a
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Hemet, CA;
Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, Pastor/CEO, New Milford
UMC, United Methodist Church, New Milford, CT;
Reverend Thabdiwe Dale-Ferguson, Associate
Minister, Cairn Christian Church, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Lafayette, CO; Chaplain Diane
D’Angelo, Hospice Chaplain, Mountain View Friends
Meeting, Quaker, Denver, CO; Reverend E. Francisco
Danielsen-Morales, Associate Pastor, Metropolitan
Community Church of New York, Metropolitan
Community Church, New York, NY; Rev. Dr. Richard
Danielson, Pastor, Community United Church of
Christ, Boulder CO, United Church of Christ,
Longmont, CO; Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz, Rabbi,
Temple B’nai Abraham, Jewish — Other, Livingston,
NJ; Reverend Colleen Darraugh, Senior Pastor,
Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Dallas,
Metropolitan Community Church, Carrollton, TX;
Rev. Fred Davie, Executive Vice President, Union
Theological Seminary NYC, Presbyterian Church
USA, NYC, NY; The Very Reverend lan Davies,
Canon, Rector & Dean, St Thomas the Apostle,
Hollywood, Dean of the Incarnation, Diocese of Los
Angeles, Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, CA; Rev. Dr.
Mark Davies, Wimberly Professor of Social and
Ecological Ethics, Oklahoma City University, United
Methodist Church, Edmond, OK; Reverend DeWayne
Davis, Senior Pastor, All God’s Children MCC,
Metropolitan Community Church, Minneapolis, MN;
Pastor Janet Davis, Licensed Lay Pastor, United
Church of Christ, Gretna, NE; Reverend Daniel
Davis, Solo Pastor, Westminster United, Presbyterian
Church USA, Minden, NE; Reverend Tawana Davis,
Board Member, Interfaith Alliance of Colorado,
Interfaith, Denver, CO; Rev. D. Charles Davis,
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Tippe-
2la
canoe County, Unitarian Universalist Association,
West Lafayette, IN; Rev. Dr. Lisa Davison, Professor
of Hebrew Bible, Phillips Theological Seminary,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Tulsa, OK;
Rev. Ann Day, Retired Clergy, United Church of
Christ, Holden, MA; Jan Lawrence, Executive
Director, United Methodist Church, Washington, DC;
Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, Professor of Social
Ethics and Latinx Studies, Southern Baptist, Denver,
CO; Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director, New
Ways Ministry, Roman Catholic, Mount Rainier, MD;
Reverend Kathleen Deegan-Neal, Associate Pastor,
Watkinsville First United Methodist Church, United
Methodist Church, Athens, GA; Reverend Paula
Degree, Retired, United Church of Christ, Dennis
Port, MA; The Rev. Charles deKay, Rector, St.
Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Evanston, IL; Rev. Dylan Dell-Haro, Minister,
Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Beatrice, NE;
Rabbi Lisa Delson, Rabbi, Peninsula Temple Sholom,
Jewish — Reform, Burlingame, CA; Reverend Judith
Deutsch, Minister emerita, Westside Congregation,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Corrales, NM;
Rev. Brother Thomas Devlin, Treasurer, Mercy of
God Community, Interfaith, Amarillo, TX; Reverend
Ralph DeWitt-Golden, Staff Clergy, New Life MCC,
Metropolitan Community Church, New Port Richey,
FL; Rabbi Barry Diamond, Beth Haverim Shir
Shalom, Jewish — Reform, Dallas, TX; Rev. Dr.
Michael Diaz, Associate Pastor, Cathedral of Hope
UCC, United Church of Christ, Dallas, TX; Reverend
Erin Dickey, Senior Pastor, Riverside Avenue
Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Jacksonville, FL; Deaconess Darlene
DiDomineck, Interim Executive Director, Methodist
Federation for Social Action, United Methodist
22a
Church, Philadelphia, PA; Dale Dietert, Director of
Music, St Luke’s Lutheran ELCA, Lutheran — ELCA,
Dallas, TX; Reverend Carla Dietz, Pastor, Greendale
Peoples Church, Holden, MA; The Rev. Dr. Carol
DiGiusto, Parish Associate, Riverside Presbyterian,
Presbyterian Church USA, Jacksonville, FL; Rev.
Kelly Dignan, Minister, UU Church of Boulder,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Boulder, CO;
Rabbi Robert Dobrusin, Rabbi, Beth Israel
Congregation Ann Arbor MI, Jewish — Conservative,
Ann Arbor, MI; The Reverend Kent Dorsey,
Intentional Interim Minister, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Manhattan, KS; Rev. Dr. Mark
Doty, Senior Pastor, Hammond Street Congrega-
tional Church, United Church of Christ, Brewer, ME;
Molly Douthett, Pastor, Presbyterian Church USA,
Charles Town, WV; Rev. Dr. Kevin Downer,
Intentional Interim Pastor, Metropolitan Community
Church, Auburn, MA; The Rev. Elizabeth Morris
Downie, Retired, St. Augustine’s Church, Episcopal
Church, Winnetka, IL; Reverend Amelia Dress,
Pastor, United Church of Christ, Erie, CO; Rev. Dr.
Renee DuBose, Our Hope MCC, Metropolitan
Community Church, Raleigh, NC; Roen Drewello,
Minister in Training, Nichiren Shu, Buddhist,
Newton, NH; Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive
Director, Dignity USA, Roman Catholic, Medford, MA;
Bishop Randy Duncan, Bishop/Chief Presiding
Presbyter & Senior Pastor, Congregation: New Life
Connect Point/Reconciling Pentecostals International,
Pentecostal, LaPorte, IN; Reverend Ilene Dunn,
Retired, Presbyterian Church USA, Pflugerville, TX;
Debra Dunnington, Hospice Chaplain, Unitarian
Meeting House Provincetown, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Mashpee, MA; Reverend Jane Dwinell,
Small Congregation Consultant, Unitarian Universalist
23a
Association, Burlington, VT; Rev. Dr. James Dwyer,
California-Pacific Conference, The United Methodist
Church, Claremont, CA; The Rev. Alex Dyer, Priest
in Charge, St. Thomas’ Parish Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Washington, DC; Rev. Charles
Eagle, Senior Pastor, Community United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Brookville, OH;
Rev. Paige Eaves, Senior Pastor, University United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church, Irvine,
CA; The Very Reverend M.E. Eccles, Rector, St.
Martin’s Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Mount
Prospect, IL; Pastor Terri Echelbarger, Pastor, Many
Journeys MCC, Metropolitan Community Church,
San Mateo, CA; Rev. Katherine Economou, Senior
Minister, Center for Spiritual Living Temecula
Valley, New Thought, Fallbrook, CA; Pastor Lyda
Eddington, Pastor, La Tijera United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, CA;
Rev. Rose Edington, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion, Charleston, WV; Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards,
Parish Associate, Community House Presbyterian
Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Pittsburgh, PA;
The Reverend Doc Martin Eldred, Pastor, Joy
Lutheran, Lutheran — ELCA, Eagle River, AK; The
Rev. Donna Faith Eldredge, Retired, United Church
of Christ, Portland, OR; Rev. Dr. John Elford, Senior
Pastor, University United Methodist Church, United
Methodist Church, Austin, TX; Den. Scott Elliott,
Deacon, St Gregory’s, Episcopal Church, Chicago, IL;
Rev. Charles Ellis, Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), Retired, Vinton, VA; Rev. Dr. Marvin Ellison,
Williard S. Blass Professor Emeritus of Christian
Ethics, Bangor Theological Seminary, Presbyterian
Church USA, Portland, ME; Rev. Dr. Dorothy
Emerson, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Church of
the Larger Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist
24a
Association, Medford, MA; Rev. Dr. David Ensign,
Pastor, Clarendon Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian
Church USA, Arlington, VA; Rev. Alycia Erickson,
Pastor, Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church,
Metropolitan Community Church, Colorado Springs,
CO; Jacob’ Erickson, Assistant Professor of
Theological Ethics, Trinity College Dublin, Minot.
ND; Rev. C. Erwin, Minister, Faith Community
United Church of Christ- UCC, United Church of
Christ, McHenry, IL; Rev. Jorge Espinel, Director
Latino Ministry, Church of the Larger Fellowship,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Houston, TX;
Reverend Cathy Estey, Interfaith Prayer Minister,
Trinity Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Merrimac, MA; Rabbi Dr. Andrew Ettin, Spiritual
Leader, Temple Israel, Jewish Renewal, Pfafftown,
NC; Reverend Mary Sue Evers, Senior Pastor, Cedar
Hills United Church of Christ, United Church of
Christ, Portland, OR; Rev. Leslie Fails, Settled
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fair-
banks, Unitarian Universalist Association, Fairbanks,
AK; Rev. Sylvia Falconer, Retired, Unitarian Univer-
salist Church of Greeley, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Greeley, CO; Rabbi Jeffrey Falick, Rabbi,
Birmingham Temple, Jewish — Humanist, Farming-
ton Hills, MI; The Reverend Manuel Faria, Rector,
St. Peter’s Church, Episcopal Church, Beverly, MA;
Reverend Suzanne Fast, Affiliated Community
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort
Myers, Unitarian Universalist Association, Fort
Myers, FL; Reverend Barbara Fast, Retired,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Palm Springs,
CA; Rev. Dr. Kelly K. Faulstich, Pastor, Resurrection
Lutheran Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Chicago, IL;
Rev. Barnaby Feder, Lead Minister, Champlain
Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Unitarian
25a
Universalist Association, Middlebury, VT; Reverend
Karen Fedorchak, Deacon Emeritus, St. Mary’s
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Manchester,
CT; The Rev. Thomas Fehr, Priest, The Episcopal
Church of the Ascension, Episcopal Church,
Cincinnati, OH; Reverend Laurie Feille, Senior
Pastor, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),
Minneapolis, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church,
Minneapolis, MN; Rev. Lillian Ferguson, MCC of
Paducah, Metropolitan Community Church, Paducah,
KY; Pastor Dave Ferguson, Director of Church
Relations, Seventh-day Adventist Kinship Inter-
national, Seventh Day Adventist, Sunland, CA; Rabbi
Michael Fessler, Editor, Jewishrecon.ort, Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbinical College, Jewish — Reconstruc-
tionist, Poughkeepsie, NY; Rev. Carol Ficken, Pastor,
Lutheran — ELCA, Wyndmoor, PA; Michael Fieleke,
Teacher and Priest, Boundless Way Zen, Buddhist,
Waltham, MA; Rabbi Barry Fineman, Rabbi/
Community Leader, Beth Ahava Rabba, Jewish —
Humanist, Sugar Land, TX; Rabbi Brian Fink, Rabbi,
Reconstructionist, Jewish — _ Reconstructionist,
Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Dr. Steven Fink, Senior Rabbi,
Temple Oheb Shalom, Jewish — Reform, Baltimore,
MD; Reverend John Fiscus, Pastor, Peace United
Church of Christ, United Church of Christ, St Cloud,
MN; Rev. Elder Diane Fisher, Senior Pastor, MCC
Rehoboth, Metropolitan Community Church, Lewes,
DE; Reverend Marylee Fithian, Retired, United
Methodist Church, Minneapolis, MN; Reverend
Diane Fitzgerald, Zen Buddhist Priest, Boundless
Way Zen, Buddhist, Putnam, CT; Reverend Shannon
Fleck, Director of Community Engagement,
Oklahoma Conference of Churches, Disciples of
Christ, Christian Church, Oklahoma City, OK; Vicar
Tara Fleck, Pastoral Intern, Evangelical Lutheran
26a
Church in America, Lutheran — ELCA, Nashville,
TN; Reverend Shannon Fleck, Director, Oklahoma
Conference of Churches, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Oklahoma City, OK; Rev. Susan
Fleenor, Retired, Presbyterian Church USA, Santa
Rosa, CA; The Reverend Dr. Ruth Fletcher, Regional
Minister, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
in Montana, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church,
Great Falls, MT; Bishop Yvette Flunder, Presiding
Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries,
City of Refuge, United Church of Christ, Oakland,
CA; Reverend Sarah Flynn, All Souls Ministry,
Diocese of New England, The Old Catholic Church,
Province of the U.S., Burlington, VT; Reverend
Colleen Foley, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Community
Church, Louisville, KY; Rev. Megan Foley, Regional
Lead, Unitarian Universalist Association, Silver
Spring, MD; Reverend Lara Forbes, Pastor, Faith
Lutheran Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Phoenix, AZ;
The Reverend Julie Forest, Interim Minister,
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert,
Unitarian Universalist Association, San Diego, CA;
Rev. Chris Fortin, Guiding Teacher, DharmaHeart
Zen, Buddhist, Sebastopol, CA; Reverend Robert
Fortney, Minister and Clinical Counselor, Palo Duro
Presbytery of the PC(USA), Presbyterian Church
USA, Lubbock, TX; Rev. Melinda Foster, Retired,
Fellowship Congregation UCC, United Church of
Christ, Owasso, OK; Rev. Dr. Dennis W. Foust,
Senior Minister, St. John’s Baptist Church, Alliance
of Baptists, Charlotte, NC; Reverend Dr. Sidney D.
Fowler, Senior Minister, United Church of Christ,
Washington, DC; Pastor Robert Franek, Pastor, Faith
Lutheran Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Galesburg, IL;
Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray, President, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Boston, MA; Rev. Amy
27a
Freedman, Minister of Religious Education, First
Parish in Cencord, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Cambridge, MA; Rev. Corinne Freedman
Ellis, Minister of Congregational Life, Macalester
Plymouth United Church, United Church of Christ,
St. Paul, MN; Rev. Todd Freeman, Pastor, College
Hill Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Tulsa, OK; Rev. Chuck Freeman, Executive Director,
Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Round Rock, TX;
Minister Arwen Freer, Minister, Universal Life
Church, Jacksonville, FL; Reverend John Freese-
mann, Pastor, Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church —
San Jose, CA, Lutheran — ELCA, San Jose, CA;
Reverend Maureen Frescott, Associate Pastor, The
Congregational Church of Amherst, United Church of
Christ, Amherst, NH; Reverend Dr. John Frey,
Teaching Pastor, Cypress Creek Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Spring, TX;
Rev. Dr. Kurt Friederich, Ascension Lutheran
Church of Garland, TX, Lutheran — ELCA, Garland,
TX; Rev. Elmer Frimoth, Retired, Presbyterian
Church USA, Portland, OR; The Rev. Gwen Fry,
Priest, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Episcopal!
Church, Little Rock, AR; Rabbi Aaron Gaber, Rabbi,
Congregation Brothers of Israel, Jewish — Conserva-
tive, Newtown, PA; The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney,
Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, Brite Divinity
School, Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, TX; Reverend
Emily Gage, Minister of Faith Development, Unity
Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Oak Park, IL;
Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, Senior Pastor, Foundry
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Washington, DC; Brother Scotland Gallo, Franciscan
Friar, Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter,
28a
Episcopal Church, Charlotte, NC; Rev. Robert
Galloway, Retired, Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches, Metropolitan
Community Church, Corryton, TN; Reverend Heidi
Gamble, Presbyterian Church (USA), Culver City,
CA; Rev. Norma Gann, Senior Pastor, MCC Redwood
Empire, Metropolitan Community Church, San
Francisco, CA; Pastoral Intern Nicole Garcia,
Pastoral Intern, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church,
Lutheran — ELCA, Littleton, CO; The Reverend
Francisco Garcia. Rector, Holy Faith Episcopal
Church, Episcopal Church, Inglewood, CA; Reverend
Steve Gardner, Retired, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Springfield, MO; Rev. Jocelyn Gardner
Spencer, Pastor, First Congregational Church
(United Church of Christ), United Church of Christ,
Woodstock, CT; Dr. Bruce Garner, National
President, Integrity USA (LGBTQ Episcopalians),
Trustee General Theological Seminary, Chair,
Diocese of Atlanta, All Saints’ Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA; The Rev. Jane
Garrett, Retired, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Middlebury, VT; Susan Gascho-
Cooke, Pastor, Community Mennonite Church of
Lancaster, Mennonite, Lancaster, PA; Rev. Dr. Edith
A. Gause, Interim Pastor, Presbyterian Church USA,
Weatherford, TX; Rev. Jude Geiger, Lead Minister,
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Huntington,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Huntington, NY;
Debra, Gerkin, Organizing Pastor, Fireside Christian
Church, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church,
Aurora, CO; Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny, Rabbi,
Congregation Nevei Kodesh, Jewish Renewal,
Boulder, CO; Rabbi Dr. Gary Gerson, Rabbi
Emeritus, Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion,
Jewish — Reform, Oak Park, IL; Reverend Chana
29a
Getter, Jewish — Other, Fair Lawn, Nd; Rev. Paige
Getty, Senior Minister, UU Congregation of
Columbia, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Columbia, MD; Rev. Vickey Gibbs, Associate Pastor,
Resurrection MCC, Metropolitan Community Church,
Houston, TX; The Rt. Rev’d Wendell Gibbs, Bishop
Diocesan, Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, Episcopal
Church, Detroit, MI; Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson, Retired,
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Elkhart,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Knoxville, TN;
Deacon Susan Giese, Retired, Lutheran — ELCA,
Hartford, WI; The Rev. Dr. Richard Gilbert,
Interfaith Impact of New York State, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Rochester, NY; Osho
Desmond Gilna, Priest, Sacramento Zendo, Buddhist,
Sacramento, CA; Rev. Anne Gilson, Adjunct Clergy,
Christ Church Episcopal, Episcopal Church,
Harwich, MA; The Rev. Sarah Ginolfi, Parish
Missioner, St. Paul’s Indy, Episcopal Church,
Indianapolis, IN; The Reverend Deborah Giordano,
Spiritual Director, Inklings Community, Novato, CA;
Reverend Marcella Glass, Pastor, Southminster
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Boise, ID; Elizabeth Gleich, Associate Pastor of
Children and Youth, First Church of Christ,
Congregational, West Hartford, CT; Deacon Rev.
Alice Ann Glenn, Retired, Monterey United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Monterey, CA; Rabbi Bob Gluck, Professor,
University at Albany, Jewish — Reconstructionist,
Albany, NY; Sister Grace Golata, Chaplain, Catholic,
Milwaukee, WI; Rabbi Barbara Goldman-Wartell,
Congregational Rabbi and Adjunct Professor, Temple
Concord, Jewish ~ Reform, Binghamton, NY; The
Rev. Dr. Robert Goldstein, Retired, Lutheran —
ELCA, Chicago, IL; Rabbi Dr. Rafael Goldstein,
30a
Executive Director, Neshama: Association of Jewish
Chaplains, Jewish — Other, Wilton Manors, FL; Rabbi
Lizz Goldstein, Rabbi, Congregation Ner Shalom,
Jewish — Reform, Vienna, VA; The Rev. Dr. Cynthia
Good, Pastor, Calvary Church UMC, United
Methodist Church, Arlington, MA; Reverend Andrea
Goodman, Officiant, The Interfaith Peace Project,
Interfaith, San Francisco, CA; Reverend Darrell
Goodwin, Senior Pastor, Liberation United Church of
Christ, United Church of Christ, Seattle, WA; Rabbi
Andrew Gordon, Rabbi, Bolton Street Synagogue,
Jewish — Reform, Baltimore, MD; Rev. Kathleen
Gorman-Coombs, Co-Pastor, Trinity, Presbyterian
Church USA, Scotia, NY; Rev. Dr. Robin Gorsline,
Writer-Theologian in Residence, Metropolitan
Community Church of Washington DC, Metropolitan
Community Church, Greenbelt, MD; Reverend
Kristin Gorton, Pastor, Memorial United Church of
Christ, United Church of Christ, Fitchburg, WI;
Reverend Chery! Gorvie, Pastor, Bethany Lutheran
Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Dallas, TX; Rabbi Pamela
Gottfried, Dean of Jewish Studies, The Weber School,
Jewish — Other, Atlanta, GA; Rev. Elizabeth Goudy,
Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of
the Lehigh Valley, Metropolitan Community Church,
Schnecksville, PA; Rabbi Andrea Gouze, Rabbi,
Temple Beth Emunah, Jewish — Other, Easton, MA;
Reverend Christine Grace, Minister, Unity of
Chattanooga, Unity, Chattanooga, TN; Rev. Harry
Grace, Pastor, St. Mark’s & All Saints Church,
Episcopal Church, Buffalo, NY; Rev. Jim Gragg,
Retired, Mosaic United Methodist Church, United
Methodist Church, Oklahoma City, OK; Jeannine
Gramick, Co-Executive Director, National Coalition
of American Nuns, Roman Catholic, Mt. Rainier, MD;
The Rev. Joseph Graumann, Pastor, Saint Stephen
3la
Lutheran Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Marlborough,
MA; Rev. Tim Graves, Lead Pastor, Albany First
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Disciples of
Christ, Christian Church, Albany, OR; The Reverend
Lisa Graves, Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church,
Episcopal Church, Huntington, WV; The Rev. Canon
Bruce Gray, Canon to the Ordinary, Episcopal
Diocese of Indianapolis, Episcopal Church, Indiana-
polis, IN; Rev. Jo Green, Chaplain and Affiliate
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Susquehanna Valley, Unitarian Universalist Associ-
ation, Danville, PA; The Reverend Linda Green,
Transitional Minister, St. John the Evangelist
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Batavia, IL;
The Rev. Gari Green, Retired, St Matthew’s
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Kenosha, WI;
Reverend William Green, Associate Pastor and
Director of Connecting Ministries, Foundry United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Washington, DC; Rabbi Laurie Green, Rabbi,
Congregation Bet Mishpachah, Jewish — Other,
Baltimore, MD; Cantor Tanya Greenblatt, Interim
Cantor, Temple Beth Orr, Coral Springs, Jewish —
Reform, Tampa, FL; Rev. Dr. Ronald Greene,
Minister, Central Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Great
Falls, MT; Rabbi Fred Greene, Rabbi, Congregation
Har HaShem, Jewish — Reform, Boulder, CO; Anne,
Greene, Assistant Minister, Center for Spiritual
Living Menifee Valley, Sun City, CA; Rev. Dr. Larry
Greenfield, Executive Director, Parliament of the
World’s Religions, American Baptist Church,
Chicago, IL; Rev. Ashley Green-Young, Pastor, Alex
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Chickasha, OK; Rev. Hilary Greer, Episcopal Priest,
Episcopal Church, Sewanee, TN; Rev. Hilary Greer,
32a
Priest, Episcopal Church, Sewanee, TN; The Rev. Dr.
Pamela Gregory, Retired, Episcopal Diocese of Rhode
Island, Episcopal Church, Warwick, RI; The Rev.
Rachael Gregory, Retired, Episcopal Church, Beach
Park, IL; Rev. Dr. Nina Grey, Minister Emerita, First
Unitarian Society of Chicago, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Columbia, SC; Paula Gribble, Director of
Religious Education, UU Church in Cherry Hill,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Cherry Hill, NJ;
Chas Griffin, Clergy Person, Retired, United Church
of Christ, Seven Lakes, NC; Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin,
Executive Minister, Sunshine Cathedral, Metro-
politan Community Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL;
Rev. Debbie Griffin, Senior Minister, Downtown
Disciples, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Des
Moines, IA; Rev. Carolynn Griffith, Minister, The
Church of Keauhou, New Thought, Honolulu, HI;
Rev. Stephen Griffith, Retired, United Methodist
Church, Lincoln, NE; Rey. Tom Griffith, Elder in Full
Connection (Retired), The United Methodist Church,
United Methodist Church, Chandler, AZ; Rev. Mary
Grigolia, Minister, Oberlin Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Oberlin, OH; Reverend Doctor Laura Marie Grimes,
Bishop, Sophia Catholic Communion, Catholic, San
Jose, CA; Reverend Doctor Ted Grimsrud, Retired
Pastor, Shalom Mennonite Congregation, Mennonite,
Harrisonburg, VA; Rev. Charles Grindle, Retired,
One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, Interfaith, West-
brook, ME; Reverend David Grishaw-Jones, Senior
Pastor, Peace United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Santa Cruz, CA; Rev. Elizabeth
Griswold, Senior Pastor, Parkside Community
Church, United Church of Christ, Davis, CA; Rev.
David Groeneveld, Pastor, Reformed Church of
Freehold, Reformed Church in America, Freehold,
33a
NJ; Nancy Gunn, Minister of Worship, The Church at
Cactus, Cooperative Baptists, Peoria, AZ; Rabbi
Rachel Gurevitz, Rabbi, Congregation B’nai Shalom,
Jewish — Reform, Westborough, MA; Rev. Edgar
Gutierrez, Priest in Charge, St. Luke’s Episcopal
Church, Episcopal Church, Chelsea, MA; Rev. Laura
Guy, Pastor, Living Water Christian Church,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Overland Park,
KS; Rev. Denise Gyauch, Affiliated Minister, First
UU Church of Nashville, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Nashville, TN; Rev. Carol Haag, Retired,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Princeton, Nd;
Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner, Minister, Unitarian Univer-
salist Church in Reston, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Reston, VA; Deacon Christine Haider-
Winnett, Transitional Deacon, St. Hildegard Catholic
Community, Catholic, Berkeley, CA; Rev. Sara Hale,
Retired, Trinity Luther, Havertown, Lutheran —
ELCA, Yeadon, PA; Rev. Gretchen Haley, Senior
Minister, Foothills Unitarian Church, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Fort Collins, CO; Rev. Dr.
Jonathan Hall, Senior Pastor, First Christian Church
Disciples of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Ventura, CA; Rev. Denise Hall, United
Methodist Church, Weatherford, TX; The Rev. Canon
T. Mark Hallahan, Rector, St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church, Episcopal Church, Pomona, CA; The
Reverend PK Hamilton, Senior Pastor, New Journey
Church, Centreville, VA; Rev. Julia Hamilton, Lead
Minister, Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Santa Barbara,
CA; Rev. Sue Hamly, Pastor, Faith United Church
(UCC), United Church of Christ, International Falls,
MN; Rabbi Joseph Hample, Rabbi, Tree of Life
Congregation, Jewish — Reform, Morgantown, WV;
The Rev. Michelle Hansen, Missional Priest, All
34a
Saints’ Episcopal, Episcopal Church, Waterbury, CT;
Rev. Dr. Linda Hansen, Retired, Community of the
Living Spirit, Unitarian Universalist Association,
New Berlin, WI; The Reverend Mary Hansen-Joyce,
Hospital Interfaith Chaplain, Cape Cod Council of
Churches, Lutheran — ELCA, Yarmouth Port, MA;
Rev. Arnold Hanson, Retired, ELCA, Lutheran —
ELCA, Minneapolis, MN; Reverend/Pastor Inger
Hanson, Pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church of
America, Lutheran — ELCA, Jackson, WY; Rev.
Nancy Hanson, Pastor, Messiah and First Lutheran
Churches, Lutheran — ELCA, Washburn, WI; Mr.
Charles Happel, Retired Priest, New Apostolic
Church of North America, Speedway, IN; Reverend
Heather Harding, Pastor, Fleming Island United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Fleming Island, FL; The Rev. Joyce Hardy, Deacon,
Christ Episcopal Church, Diocese of Arkansas,
Episcopal Church, Little Rock, AR; Reverend Cedric
A Harmon, Executive Director, Many Voices,
National Baptist, Washington, DC; Rev. Dr. Kristen
Harper, Senior Minister, Unitarian Church of
Barnstable, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Marstons Mills, MA; Rabbi Vered Harris, Rabbi,
Temple B'nai Israel, Jewish — Reform, Edmond, OK;
Rev. Margaret Hart, Retired, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Central Square, NY; Rev. Dr. Linda
Hart, Minister, Tahoma Unitarian Universalist
Congregation, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Tacoma, WA; Rev. Micah Hartung, Retired,
Metropolitan Community Church — Montana, Metro-
politan Community Church, Belt, MT; Reverend
Nicole Harvell, Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran ELCA,
Lutheran — ELCA, New Haven, CT; Pastor Jeffery
Haskins, Pastor, Unity Fellowship of Christ Church
Philadelphia, Unity Fellowship, Yeadon, PA; Rev.
35a
Phil Haslanger, Retired, United Church of Christ,
Fitchburg, WI; The Reverend Joshua Hatten, Priest,
Hermitage of the Holy Angels, The Old Catholic
Church, Catholic, Jackson, MS; Fr. Gary Hayes,
Retired, Ecumenical Catholic Communion, Catholic,
Vineland, NJ; Rev. Ann Hayman, Retired, Religious
Coalition, Presbyterian Church USA, Santa Monica,
CA; Rev. Sara Hayman, Congregational Minister, UU
Church of Ellsworth, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion, Ellsworth, ME; Fr. Kendall Haynes, Rector, St.
Matthew Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Tacoma, WA; Reverend Mel Hazlewood, Pastor,
Valley Spring United Methodist Church and
Cherokee United Methodist Church, United
Methodist Church, Meadowlakes, TX; Rev. Dr. Jane
Heckles, Consultant, Pension Boards of the United
Church of Christ, United Church of Christ,
Claremont, CA; Reverend Tom Heger, Retired,
Presbyterian Church USA, San Antonio, TX; Rev.
Russell Heiland, Sr. Minister, Unity of Fairfax,
Unity, Oakton, VA; Rev. Lisa Heilig, Resource
Specialist, Metropolitan Community Churches,
Metropolitan Community Church, Decatur, GA; The
Rev. Br. Richard Edward Helmer, Rector, Church of
Our Saviour, Episcopal Church, Mill Valley, CA; Rev.
Dale Hempen, Retired United Church of Christ,
Durham, NH; The Rev. Jane Geffken Henderson,
Retired, The Congregational Church, NH, United
Church of Christ, Minneapolis, MN; Reverend Adele
Henderson, Chaplain, Cooperative Baptist Fellow-
ship, Cooperative Baptists, Roanoke, VA; Rev. Dr.
Katharine Henderson, President, Auburn Theological
Seminary, Presbyterian Church USA, New York, NY;
Rev. Amanda Henderson, Executive Director, The
Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Denver, CO; Reverend Angela
36a
Henderson, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion, Unitarian Universalist Association, Westminster,
CO; Rev. Rich Hendricks, Senior Pastor, Metro-
politan Community Church Quad Cities, Metro-
politan Community Church, Davenport, IA; The Rev.
Pat Hendrickson, Retired, Episcopal Church,
Thousand Oaks, CA; Reverend Mike Henrichs,
Retired, Church of the Open Arms UCC, United
Church of Christ, Midwest City, OK; The Rev.
Charles H Hensel, Assistant Priest, St. Giles Church,
St. Giles, Episcopal Church, Northbrook, IL; Rabbi
Floyd Herman, Rabbi Emeritus, Har Sinai
Congregation, Jewish - Reform, Baltimore, MD;
Rabbi Joshua Herman, Associate Rabbi,
Congregation Beth Israel, Jewish — Reform, Houston,
TX; Rabbi Rachel Hertzman, Retired, Temple Ner
Tamid, Jewish — Reform, Montclair, NJ; Rev. Linda
Herzer, New Thought, Atlanta, GA; The Rev. Alan
Hesse, Rector, Christ Church — Swansea, MA,
Episcopal Church, Wareham, MA; Reverend Billy
Hester, Senior Minister, Asbury Memorial United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Savannah, GA; Rev. Christiane Heyde, Sabbatical
Minister, Mountain Vista UU Church, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Tucson, AZ; Pastor Michael
Hidalgo, Lead Pastor, Denver Community Church,
Evangelical Protestant, Denver, CO; Reverend Linda
Higgins, Pastor, St John’s UCC, United Church of
Christ, Richmond, VA; Very Rev. Kent Higgins,
Dean, Kanawha Deanery, Episcopal Diocese of West
Virginia, Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church,
Charleston, WV; The Reverend Louise Hilbert,
Interim Pastor First Lutheran Church, Albemarle,
Lutheran — ELCA, Duram, NC; Rev. John Hild,
Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church of Pueblo,
Metropolitan Community Church, Pueblo, CO; Pastor
37a
Scott Hill, Altadena Community Church, United
Church of Christ, Los Angeles, CA; Rev. David Hill,
Pastor, The First Church in Oberlin, United Church
of Christ, United Church of Christ, Oberlin, OH;
Reverend Monte Hillis, Racial Justice Advocacy,
National City Christian Church; Disciples Public
Witness, National Baptist, Washington, DC;
Reverend Carol Hilton, Retired, Palomar Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Oceanside, CA; Rev. Dr. David Hindman,
Retired Clergy, Virginia Conference, The United
Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Williamsburg, VA; Reverend James Hobart, Minister
Affiliated, First Unitarian Church of Chicago,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Chicago, IL; Rev.
Lisa Jean Hoefner, Pastor, Kings Beach UMC,
United Methodist Church, Portland, OR; Rev. Mark
Hoelter, Community Minister, All Souls Church,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Washington, DC;
Rabbi Cynthia Hoffman, Aleph, Fremont, CA; Rev.
M. Lara Hoke, Consulting Minister, Unitarian
Universalist Congregation in Andover, MA,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Lowell, MA; Dr.
John C Holbert, Westwood United Methodist Church,
United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, CA; Rev.
Gregory Holler-Dinsmore, First Lutheran Church,
Lutheran — ELCA, Wolf Point, MT; Rev. Julia
Hollister, Minister, First Congregational Church
UCC Sheboygan, United Church of Christ,
Sheboygan, WI; Rev. Teresa Holloway-Nunn, Retired,
Ainsworth United Church of Christ, United Church of
Christ, Vancouver, WA; Rev. Charles Holm, Retired,
Monmouth Presbytery, Presbyterian Church USA,
Manchester, NJ; Reverend L Holmes, Clergy,
Metropolitan Community Church, St Petersburg, FL;
Cantor Jesse Holzer Hazzan, Jacksonville Jewish
38a
Center, Jewish — Conservative, Jacksonville, FL;
Reverend Liam Hooper, Founding Minister,
Ministries Beyond Welcome, United Church of
Christ, Winston Salem, NC; Rev. Lynn Hopkins,
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of
Montgomery, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Montgomery, AL; The Rt. Rev. Harold Hopkins,
Bishop, Diocese of North Dakota (Ret.), Diocese of
North Dakota, Episcopal Church, Scarborough, ME;
Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, General Minister and
President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in
the US and Canada, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Indianapolis, IN; Reverend Margaret
Hostetler, Senior Minister, Orlando Center for
Spiritual Living, New Thought, Orlando, FL;
Reverend Dan Hotchkiss, Consultant, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Middleboro, MA; Rev.
Sylvia Howe, Minister Emerita, First Parish UU of
Beverly, MA, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Columbus, OH; Rev. Margaret E Howland, Pastor
Emeritus, Presbytery of Hudson River, Presbyterian
Church USA, Orlando, FL; Rev. Dr. Timothy Hoyer,
Pastor, Lutheran — ELCA, Jamestown, NY; The Rev.
Frank Huber, Retired, Episcopal Church, Lakewood,
CO; Reverend David Huber, Pastor, Plymouth United
Church of Christ, United Church of Christ, Eau
Claire, WI; Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson, Lead Pastor, New
Church — Chiesa Nuova, United Church of Christ,
Dallas, TX; Rabbi Jocee Hudson, Jewish — Reform,
Los Angeles, CA; The Rev. Daniel Hulseapple,
Retired, United Church of Christ, Middletown, NY;
The Reverend Reagan Humber, Pastor, House for All
Sinners and Saints, Episcopal Church, Denver, CO;
Rev. Beverly Hume, Chaplain, Extension Ministry,
United Methodist Church, London, OH; Rev. Ann
Hunt, Retired, United Methodist, United Methodist
39a
Church, Eureka, CA; Mary E. Hunt, Co-Director,
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual,
Roman Catholic, Silver Spring, MD; Rev. Dr. Lloyd
Hunter, Retired, Community Congregational United
Church of Christ, United Church of Christ, San
Antonio, FL; Rev. Dr. Anne Marie Hunter, Director,
Safe Havens’ Interfaith Partnership, United
Methodist Church, Marblehead, MA; Rabbi Mark
Hurvitz, President, Davka.org, Jewish ~ Other, New
York, NY; The Rev. Canon David Hussey, Canon to
the Ordinary, Diocese of South Dakota, Episcopal
Church, Pierre, SD; The Rev. Marquita L Hutchens,
Rector, St John’s Episcopal Church, Episcopal
Church, Charleston, WV; Postulant Order Patricia
Hutchins, Seminarian, Blue Lotus School of
Mindfulness Arts, Buddhist, Concord, NH; Rev. Brian
Hutchison, Senior Pastor, Emerald City Metropolitan
Community Church Seattle, Metropolitan Com-
munity Church, Seattle, WA; The Reverend Kimberly
Hyatt, President & CEO, Presbyterian Church
(USA), Presbyterian Church USA, Ponte Vedra
Beach, FL; Rabbinic Pastor Eve Iisen, Independent,
Jewish Renewal, Boulder, CO; Rev. Sonja
Ingebritsen, Pastor, Community of Hope United
Church of Christ, United Church of Christ, Madison,
WI; Rev. Suzan Ireland, Presbyterian Church USA,
Portland, OR; The Rev. Sara Irwin, Episcopal
Church, Pittsburgh, PA; Dr. Zachary Irwin, Deacon,
St Mary’s Episcopal--Erie PA, Episcopal Church,
Erie, PA; Rev. Rebecca Irwin-Diehl, Associate
Minister, Second Baptist Church of Germantown,
American Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA; Fr. Jack
Isbell, Bishop and Life Professed Brother of the
Franciscans of the Holy Cross, OFC, Catholic,
Honolulu, HI; Rev. Dr. Catherine Ishida, Minister at
Large, Hawaii Island, Unitarian Universalist
40a
Association, Hilo, HI; Pastor China Isler, Minister of
Substance Use Disorder and Recovery,
UrbanMission, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church,
Malibu, CA; Rabbi Debbie Israel Dubin, Rabbi,
Congregation Emeth, Jewish — Reform, Morgan Hill,
CA; The Reverend Victoria Ix, Communications
Director, Episcopal Diocese of Western Massa-
chusetts, Episcopal Church, Florence, MA; The Rev.
Dr. Paula Jackson, Rector, Church of Our Saviour/La
Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador, Episcopal Church,
Cincinnati, OH; Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, Executive for
Religious Leadership, Religious Coalition, United
Church of Christ, Phoenix, AZ; Rev. Dr. Valerie L
Jackson, Senior Pastor, University Park UMC -
Denver (RMCUMC), United Methodist Church,
Denver, CO; Rev. Darrick Jackson, Interim Associate
Executive Director, Unitarian Universalist Ministers
Association, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Chicago, IL; Rabbi Suzie Jacobson, Rabbi, Temple
Israel, Jewish -— Reform, Boston, MA; Pastor
Stephanie Jaeger, Pastor and Director of Community
Ministries, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church NoHo,
Lutheran — ELCA, North Hollywood, CA; Rabbi Ellen
Jaffe-Gill, Rabbi, Tidewater Chavurah, Jewish —
Reconstructionist, Virginia Beach, VA; Rabbi Marisa
James, Director of Social Justice Programming,
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Jewish — Other,
New York, NY; Rev. Cynthia James, Special
Ministry, Mile Hi Church, New Thought, Pine, CO;
Rev. Phil Jamison, Pastor, Presbyterian Church USA,
Pittsburgh, PA; Mr. Dilpreet Jammu, President,
Colorado Sikhs, Sikh, Parker, CO; Rev. Sharon Janot,
Pastor, Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, Lutheran
— ELCA, Rochester Hills, MI; Reverend Barbara
Jarrell, Senior Minister, All Souls Unitarian Univer-
salist Church, Unitarian Universalist Association,
4la
Shreveport, LA; Rev. Joan Javier-Duval, Minister,
Unitarian Church of Montpelier, Unitarian Univer-
salist Association, Montpelier, VT; Minister Regina
Jemison, Esq., Associate Minister, Third New Hope
Baptist Church, National Baptist, Detroit, MI; Rev.
Canon Brian Jemmott, Canon to the Ordinary/
Transitions Officer, Diocese of New Jersey, Episcopal
Church, Trenton, NJ; Reverend Nan Jenkins,
Honorably Retired, Mission Presbytery, Presbyterian
Church USA, Round Rock, TX; Reverend Ruth
Jensen-Forbell, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Metro-
politan Community Church, Metropolitan Commu-
nity Church, Jacksonville, FL; The Rev. Lucretia
Jevne, Priest, St. Brigid of Kildare, Vacaville, CA;
Reverend Sandi John, Pastoral Counselor, First
Baptist Chico, American Baptist Church, Chico, CA;
Rev. Thalia Johnson, Deacon, Episcopal Church of
the Incarnation, Episcopal Church, Dexter, MI;
Reverend Kimberly Johnson, Minister, Unitarian
Universalist Congregation of the South Fork,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Bridgehampton,
NY; The Rev. Doctor Myke Johnson, Minister, Allen
Avenue UU Church, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Portland, ME; Rev. Rachel Johnson,
Executive Minister of Communications, The River-
side Church in the City of New York, American
Baptist USA, New York, NY; Rev. Bertram Johnson,
Minister of Justice, Advocacy, and Change, The
Riverside Church in the City of New York, United
Church of Christ, New York, NY; Rev. Julie Johnson
Staples, Senior Minister and Executive Director,
Collegiate Church of NY Ministry called Intersections
International, United Church of Christ, New York,
NY; Reverend Ellen Johnson-Price, Pastor, Immanuel
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Anchorage, AK; Rev. Clifford Johnston, Rector (Priest
42a
in charge), Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Hawk Run,
PA, Episcopal Church, Morrisdale, PA; Rev. Dr. Mark
Johnston, Executive Director, Disciples LGBTQ+
Alliance, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, San
Francisco, CA; Reverend Elizabeth Jones, Retired,
United Methodist Church, Seal Rock, OR; Rev. Allan
B. Jones, Retired, United Methodist Church, Santa
Rosa, CA; Rev. Dr. Hugh Jones, Pastor, St. James
Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, Ridgeland, MS;
Rev. Dr. Scott Jones, Senior Minister, First Central
Congregational United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Omaha, NE; Reverend Sandra
Jones, Senior Pastor, Lutheran — ELCA, Columbia,
SC; Mrs. Nicole Jonsson, Director of Religious
Education at First Unitarian Church of Toledo,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Toledo, OH;
Reverend Susan Joseph Rack, Christ Presbyterian
Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Martinsville, NJ;
The Revd Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton, Hospice Chaplain,
All Saints, Episcopal Church, Long Neck, DE; Elana
Kahn, Director, Jewish Community Relations
Council, Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Jewish —
Other, Milwaukee, WI; Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky,
Rabbi, Ansche Chesed, Jewish — Conservative, NYC,
NY; Reverend Eric Kaminetzky, Senior Minister,
Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Edmonds, WA;
Rabbi Elana Kanter, Director, The Women’s Jewish
Learning Center, Jewish — Other, Phoenix, AZ; Rabbi
Greg Kanter, Rabbi, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim,
Jewish — Reform, Charleston, SC; Rev. Karen Kaser-
Odor, Hospice of Stanly, United Methodist Church,
Concord, NC; Reverend Jes Kast, Associate Minister,
West End Collegiate Church, United Church of
Christ, New York City, NY; Reverend Katherine
Katsanis-Semel, M.A., MCC San Diego, Metropolitan
43a
Community Church, San Diego, CA; Ms. Nancy
Kaufman, Chief Executive Officer, National Council
of Jewish Women, Jewish — Other, New York, NY;
Valarie, Kaur, Director, The Revolutionary Love
Project, University of Southern California, Sikh, Los
Angeles, CA; Rev. Lorelei Kay, Pastor, Westminster
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Gallup, NM; Reverend Myra Kazanjian, Parish
Associate, Sixth Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian
Church USA, Bethel Park, PA; Reverend Lois Keen,
Retired, Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Episcopal
Church, Torrington, CT; Reverend Noreen Keller,
Spiritual Leader, Detroit Center for Spiritual Living,
New Thought, Saint Clair Shores, MI; Kellie Kelly,
Intern Minister, Unity Temple Unitarian Univer-
salist Congregation, Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion, Oak Park, IL; Ms. Linda Kennedy Deacan,
North Congregational UCC, United Church of Christ,
Columbus, OH; Rev. William Kennedy, Retired, UU
Fellowship of Redwood City, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Redwood City, CA; Reverend Jim
Ketcham, Executive Director, FOCUS Churches of
Albany, Inc., American Baptist Church, Delmar, NY;
Reverend Kit Ketcham, Minister, Pacific Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Astoria, OR; Honorably Retired Daniel
C. Ketchum, MHonorably' Retired, Immanuel
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church USA,
Anchorage, AK; David Key, National Board Chair,
AWAB - Association of Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists, Assemblies of God, Athens, GA; Rev. Dr.
Maureen Killoran, Minister, Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Gainesville, FL; Reverend Rick King, Interim Pastor,
Boulder Mennonite Church, Mennonite, Longmont,
CO; Reverend Dr. Susan King, Director, Interfaith
44a
Round Table of Washtenaw County, Interfaith, Ann
Arbor, MI; Alexis King, Chaplain, USAFR, Lutheran
—~ ELCA, Annandale, VA; Professor Karen King,
Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School,
Episcopal Church, Cambridge, MA; Reverend Fred
Kinsey, Pastor, Unity Lutheran Church, ELCA,
Lutheran — ELCA, Chicago, LL; Rob Kirby, Campus
Minister, United Campus Ministry at WestM, United
Methodist Church, Corvallis, OR; Reverend Brian
Kirk, Lead Pastor, Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, St. Joseph, MO; Rev. Jim Kitchens,
Principal, PneuMatrix, Presbyterian Church USA,
Sacramento, CA; Idit Klein, Executive Director,
Keshet, Jewish — Other, Boston, MA; Reverend Tera
Klein, Minister, Throop Unitarian Universalist Church,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Pasadena, CA;
Rev. Carl Kline, Retired, UCC, United Church of
Christ, Brookings, SD; Pastor Steve Knight, Board
Member, Transform Network, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Gastonia, NC; The Rev. Dr.
William Knight, Lead Pastor, Metropolitan Commu-
nity Church of San Antonio, Metropolitan Commu-
nity Church, San Antonio, TX; Rabbi Asher Knight,
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth El, Jewish — Reform,
Charlotte, NC; Rev. David Kniker, Retired, St.
Peter’s Evangelical United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Kewanee, IL; Rabbi Michael Knopf,
Rabbi, Temple Beth-El, Jewish - Conservative,
Richmond, VA; Rev. Patricia Knorpp, Retired, United
Church of Ferndale, United Church of Christ,
Bellingham, WA; Mr. Bruce Knotts, Director,
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office,
Unitarian Universalist Association, New York, NY;
Rev. Harry Knox, Retired, Metropolitan Community
Church, Quitman, GA; Rev. Cindi Knox, Pastor, St.
John’s United Church of Christ, Eanston IL, United
45a
Church of Christ, Joliet, IL; The Rev. Dorothy
Knudson, Retired, Presbyterian Church USA, Walla
Walla, WA; Rabbi Rachel Kobrin, Rabbi, Congrega-
tion Adath Jeshurun, Jewish — Conservative, Elkins
Park, PA; Rev. Dr. Thomas Koester, Clergy,
Metropolitan Community Church, Deltona, FL; Rev.
Nancy Kollhoff, Pastor, Atchison United Methodist
Church, United Methodist Church, Atchison, KS;
Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Rabbi, UnShul, Jewish
Renewal, Portland, OR; Shozan Kodo Mary Koopman,
Priest, Sky Island Zen, Buddhist, Tucson, AZ; The
Very Reverend Drew Kovach, Archpriest, Inclusive
Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox, Honolulu, HI;
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Krajewski, Adjunct Assistant
Professor in Humanities, The Lindisfarne Commu-
nity, Interfaith, New London, NH; Rabbi Marc Kraus,
Rabbi, Temple Emanuel, Jewish — Conservative,
Virginia Beach, VA; The Rev. Dr. Mary Kraus,
Retired, Baltimore-Washington Conference UMC,
United Methodist Church, Claremont, CA; Pastor
Delores Kropf, Pastor, St. Michael the Archangel
Ecumenical Catholic Church, Catholic, Oro Valley,
AZ; Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong, Congregational Life
Staff, Unitarian Universalist, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Los Angeles, CA; Linette Lowe, Director
of Religious Exploration, First Unitarian Church of
Louisville, Unitarian Universalist Association,
Bloomfield, KY; Reverend Peter Laarman,
Coordinator, Justice Not Jails, United Church of
Christ, West Hollywood, CA; Amy LaCroix, Pastor,
First Christian Church of Olympia, Washington,
Disciples of Christ, Christian Church, Tumwater,
WA; Rev. Sarah Lammert, Co-Director of Ministries
and Faith Development, Unitarian Universalist
Association, Boston, MA; Prof. Darrell Lance,
Retired, Lake Avenue Baptist Church, American
46a
Baptist USA, Rochester, NY; Andrew Lang,
Executive Director of the Open and Affirming
Coalition of the United Church of Christ, United
Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH; Rev. Joshua
Langille-Hoppe, Pastor, United Methodist Church,
Shawnee, OK; Rabbi Gilah Langner, Rabbi, Kol Ami:
The Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community,
Jewish — Reconstructionist, Washington, DC; Rabbi
Alan LaPayover, Library Director, Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College, Jewish — Other, Philadelphia, PA;
Reverend Ryan LaRock, Associate Pastor, Christ
Church, United Methodist Church, Fairfax Station,
VA; The Rev. Jean Larson, Lutheran — ELCA,
Missoula, MT; Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavi, Rabbi,
Lab/Shul NYC, Jewish, NYC, NY; Rev. Bob
Lawrence, Co-chair of Compassionate Tulsa,
Fellowship Congregational UCC, United Church of
Christ, Tulsa, OK; Rev. Wayne A Laws, Minister of
Social Justice and Mission, Mountain View United
Church, United Church of Christ, Aurora, CO;
Reverend Gary Leard, Pastor, Pathways Center for
Spiritual Living, New Thought, Catonsville, MD; Dr.
Terence Leathers, Reverend, Mt. Vernon Church,
Clayton, NC; Reverend James Leavitt, Interim
Pastor, First Baptist Church of Weston, MA,
American Baptist USA, Tewksbury, MA; The
Reverend Lorenzo Lebrija, Bishop’s Officer, Episcopal
Diocese of Los Angeles, Episcopal Church, Los
Angeles, CA; The Rev. Dr. Eric Ledermann, Pastor,
University Presbyterian Church of Tempe, AZ,
Presbyterian Church USA, Tempe, AZ; The Rev. Dr.
Rhonda M. Lee, Priest, Episcopal Diocese of North
Carolina, Episcopal Church, Durham, NC; Bishop
Edward Lee, Bishop, Retired, St. Mary’s Episcopal
Church, Ardmore, PA, Episcopal Church, Merion
Station, PA; Rev. David Lee, Children’s Minister,
47a
First Christian Church Rowlett, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Fort Worth, TX; Pastor Gerald
Lee, Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church Newark,
Interfaith, Irvington, NJ; Reverend Marnie
Leinberger, Pastor, Milagro Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), Disciples of Christ, Christian
Church, Pueblo, CO; Reverend Marnie Leinberger,
Pastor, Marnie Leinberger, Disciples of Christ,
Christian Church, Pueblo, CO; The Reverend Karen
Lemon, Vicar, All Saints Episcopal Church, Episcopal
Church, Pratt, KS; Rev. Melissa Lemons, Pastor, Zion
Lutheran Church, Lutheran — ELCA, Wilmington,
DE; Rev. Julianne Lepp, Minister, Unitarian
Universalist Congregation in Eau Claire, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Eau Claire, WI; Rabbi
Michael Lerner, Rabbi, Beyt Tikkun Synagogue,
Jewish — Reconstructionist, Berkeley, CA; Rabbi
Joshua Lesser, Senior Rabbi, Bet Haverim, Jewish —
Reconstructionist, Atlanta, GA; Rev. Ardis Letey,
Retired, Trinity United Methodist Church, Toledo,
OR, United Methodist Church, Seal Rock, OR; Rev.
Dr. Jim _ Lewis, Retired, Episcopal Church,
Charleston, WV; Rev. Charles Lewis, Retired, San
Francisco Nightt Ministry, Lutheran — ELCA, San
Francisco, CA; The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior
Minister, Middle Collegiate Church, United Church
of Christ, New York, NY; Karen Lewis, Director of
Children’s Ministries, First Unitarian Church of
Dallas, Unitarian Universalist Association, Dallas,
TX; Rev. Alexander Liberatore, Pastor, Lake Edge
United Church of Christ, United Church of Christ,
Madison, WI; Rabbi Elias Lieberman, Rabbi,
Falmouth Jewish Congregation, Jewish — Reform,
East Falmouth, MA; Reverend Laurel Liefert, Pastor,
Namaqua Unitarian Universalist congregation,
Unitarian Universalist Association, Loveland, CO;
48a
Pastor Christine Lindeberg, Pastor, Pleasant Valley
United Methodist Church, United Methodist Church,
Pleasant Valley, NY; Rabbi John Linder, Senior
Rabbi, Temple Solel, Jewish — Reform, Phoenix, AZ;
Rabbi Janet Liss, Rabbi, North Country Reform
Temple, Jewish — Reform, Glen Cove, NY; The Rev.
Robert Livingston, Interim Ministry Specialist, First
Congregational UCC, Amherst, MA, United Church
of Christ, Belchertown, MA; Michael Livingston,
Senior Executive Minister, The Riverside Church
New York City, American Baptist Church, Trenton,
NJ; Rev. Barbara Lohrbach, Pastor, St John UCC,
United Church of Christ, Kankakee, IL; The Rev.
Kathleen Lonergan, Rector, St James, Groveland,
MA, Episcopal Church, Reading, MA; Rev. Dr.
Jennifer Long, United Methodist Church, Oologah,
United Methodist Church, Oologah, OK; Reverend
Catherine Long, Staff Minister, Centers for Spiritual
Living, New Thought, Columbus, OH; Pastor Robert
Long, Retired, United Methodist Church, Niskayuna,
NY; Rev. Sherrie Lowly, Lead Pastor, United
Methodist Church, Northbrook, IL; Kevin Lowry,
Chaplain and Director, Church of the Covenant/UU
Soci
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