Email this page

Where We Stand

On the President's Endorsement of Constitutional "Marriage Amendment"

National Quaker Organization Calls for Peace Building Rather than Waging a "Cultural War"
AFSC News Release, February 27, 2004

On Civil Rights of Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual People and All People

Treasuring All Members of the Human Community
Approved by AFSC Board of Directors, September 25, 1994

On Sexual and Gender Identity

A Concern About Sexual and Gender Identity
A Statement by the Board of Directors, November 7, 1999

On Civil Marriage

Minute on Civil Marriage
Board Executive Committee meeting, January 9-10, 2004

In addition to its support for LGBT rights and recognition, AFSC has a longstanding commitment to economic justice for all people. We seek to address not only one, but several elements of contemporary "marriage politics."

AFSC's Minute on Civil Marriage:

1. Declares that government sanction in the matter of marriage or civil union should be applied equally. All couples who seek formal government recognition of their conjugal union, whether same-sex or different-sex, should be granted civil union licenses, or all should be granted marriage licenses.
   
   
2. Differentiates between civil law, in which no single religious view should predominate, and the right of various faith traditions, denominations, and congregations to decide for themselves what their position is on the matter of religiously sanctioned marriage.
   
   
3. Opposes coercive "marriage promotion" policies that seek to enforce only one standard of worthiness for people who receive government assistance.
   
   
4. Upholds equality in civil law and the principle of free choice in the matter of marriage while rejecting the idea that the worthiness of persons and families is determined by marital status.

^ Top of page