The recent story of a US clerk Kim Davis refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples rightfully made a lot of fuzz around the globe and was seen as test to a US Supreme Court ruling that has given homosexuals the right to marry in the USA. In 2010 the Icelandic Parliament approved unanimously marriage legislation to include matrimony between same sex couples (man and man, woman and woman), upgrading same sex marriage to be fully equal with marriage.
Despite the fact that same sex marriage is by law fully equal with heterosexual marriage, there is still some work to be done as some people with the authority to issue marriage licenses think these laws don´t apply to them and see it as their constitutional right to refuse wed and issues same sex couples marriage licenses.
In Iceland unlike the USA priests issue marriage licenses to the couples they marry and after the approval of the 2010 legislation the head of Iceland´s State Church Bishop, Mrs. Agnes Sigurðardóttir, granted priests the unofficial and controversial "freedom" to refuse same sex couples their services based on their own personal beliefs and views on "marriage". In other words, if a priest hold the personal belief that marriage should not include matrimony between same sex couples he or she could refuse same sex couples his or her service.
Fundamentally there seems to be little difference between Kim Davis´ case, her views and actions, and the views and actions held by 10% of the members of the Iceland State Church, including Iceland´s Bishop, Mrs. Agnes Sigurðardóttir, who is the Head of the State Church. She and her fellow supporters claim that priests can simply ignore Icelandic laws and basic human rights and act freely to accommodate their discriminatory beliefs and actions. And even worse, Bishop Agnes Sigurðardóttir does not recognize this as a problem. By not taking action, she is clearly responsible for the State Church discriminative behavior towards same sex couples.
You don´t get to choose when and against whom to discriminate against
When saying "this is not a problem as 90% of member priests won´t discriminate" to quote Bishop Agnes, is not acceptable view on the topic. Fundamentally the State Church, or any other, should not be able to bypass Icelandic legislation "when they feel like" because it is plain and simple discrimination and therefore illegal. And thats why the church is discriminating. Denying same sex couples their service, State Church priests are discriminating and braking the law. This has nothing to do with religious freedom or freedom of speech. If any member of the State Church holds and acts on those beliefs, it´s simply time for that very same member to resign and practice his discriminatory beliefs elsewhere. Just like Kim Davis needs to do.
-FJ
