WASHINGTON, D.C. — Raleigh-based consultant Stan Kimer represented the North Carolina Council of Churches during a special meeting with U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez on Sept. 16. It was coordinated by the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Topic of discussion was how faith groups and the Obama Administration can work together to protect workers and provide greater economic opportunity for all. Kimer included LGBT employee protections with his remarks.
Perez is a long-time supporter of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act.
The council has been a staunch supported of the LGBT community and called for an end to discrimination based on sexual identity in 1991. After the state became one in which same-sex couples could be married, it stated on its website: “Because we saw the defining of marriage based on sexual identity as discrimination that had no place in constitutions, we voiced opposition to so-called marriage amendments in 2004 and worked (unsuccessfully at the time) for the defeat of Amendment One in 2012. So we are gratified to see the federal courts, interpreting our country’s most foundational document, the United States Constitution, now agreeing with us! And, while we know there are those within the Council’s member bodies who are troubled by [the] decisions, many of us celebrate with clergy who can now perform marriages as their consciences and their denominations instruct and with committed, loving couples who can now have those unions recognized as marriage by their communities of faith. At its core, the Council’s work is about the value of every individual as a beloved child of God. Last week’s decisions reinforce that worth.”
info: ncchurches.org.
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