If the authority empowered to "rent" out a church sign an agreement with a couple, they should honor the agreement regardless of their sexual orientation.
I'm really not sure what you are trying to say here. Who rents a church? And in what situation would they "sign an agreement?"
WTF?
You just don't show up on a Saturday and have a wedding. You pay the church--likely you're already a member but they often charge. And guess what, you sign an agreement that the church will be open, heated/cooled, lights on, clean, etc...
Ask a grown up.
Er.... I have only a limited amount of information on this. I admit that openly.
But I do know that for our church members, there would be no 'rental contract'.
Of course you don't just show up... you would go to the pastor, or the staff, inform them you wish to get married, go through counseling, and then you would set a date, which of course would have to be a date the church is available, and if you want it decorated, you pretty much have to do that, and organize that, yourself.
We don't pay for any decorations, or hosting, catering, or anything else. That's all on you.
There is a church usage fee I think... but it's not a rental fee. It's a flat fee to cover the clean up, and prepare for the Sunday service.
I don't have the exact fee on hand, but the fees in our area varies based on Church size, and of course different denominations have different amounts. As near as I can tell from what limited information is on the internet, the average rate is between $300 to $500.
Other religions tend to not even have an option. From what I understand Islam, Buddhist, Jewish and Catholic, all of them you are either a member of that Mosque, Synagogue, temple, or Diocese, or you don't get married there, and that's it.
As Bible based church, we don't have a denomination. So if people outside our church wish to be married there, I think you have to have some connection to the church, or a church we have a good relation to.
The pastor still counsels the people involved that they meet our requirements of Christian values. If you don't, that's it. End of story. And if you do get married there, you are married by one of the Pastors of our church. There is no finding pastor Bob, and having him come and marry you.
Again, you are not 'renting' the facility. You might pay a fee, but it's our facility, our building, our people, our property.
But the church is not 'rented out' as far as I know. At least I personally have never been in, or at a Wedding in which the church had a "rental agreement" that you can point to.
Now receptions often do. Typically a reception location, is at an external site, that is rented.
For our church, we have reception facilities, and I'm not sure, but there might be a rental agreement, because the reception can be many hours, and often has special setups and things like sound systems, and Catering, and a dance floor, and special lighting, and such.
However, since we would never marry a homo couple to begin with, they would never get to the point of signing a rental on the reception facilities. And no, we don't allow people married elsewhere, to rent out the reception facilities.
I suppose that you could be right about some other church somewhere. What you are describing sounds like Scientology or something. I can see them doing that.
I'm just kidding. I wouldn't be too surprised if there are some Unity Churches and such that rent out their building. But I don't think that is standard practice.
I could be wrong.
, just a very wise observation.
