The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association filed a motion, asking the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights to stop investigating the complaint filed by the lesbians. By law, the Association can refuse to allow gay ceremonies from taking place on its property.  The Division on Civil Rights denied the motion. Brian Raum with the Alliance Defense fund is in disbelief.

“The thing that’s most outrageous about it and troubling is that the Division on Civil Rights claims that they can’t tell whether Ocean Grove is actually a religious organization.”

The New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed it is in 1979.

“To say that Ocean Grove is not a religious organization is like saying the Yankees don’t play in the Bronx.”

Raum is in the process of deciding whether to appeal the case, or to keep working with the Division on Civil Rights. Either way, Len Deo of the New Jersey Family Policy Council warns there are rough roads ahead for churches if gay rights trump religious rights.

“It just starts to restrict the ability of the church to be effectively salt and light in the culture by opening its doors and its facilities to organizations and groups that are not necessarily strictly their own people.”

The lesbians in the Ocean Grove case are backed by homosexual rights groups Ocean Grove United, Garden State Equality, the Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU.