Victory for lesbian couple in New Jersey - how long will it be before the religious right starts lying about the issue?

I haven't posted this much in one day for a while.

In New Jersey, a case that has been a flashpoint for and against gay marriage in New Jersey has been decided and it is a victory for our side:

A New Jersey township that is owned by a church probably violated the civil rights of a lesbian couple when it refused to rent an open-air beachfront pavilion to the couple for use in a civil union ceremony, a state commissioner has concluded.

The finding, issued by J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of New Jersey's Division on Civil Rights, said an investigation had determined there was reason to pursue anti-discrimination charges against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association for denying Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster permission to rent its Boardwalk Pavilion for their civil union ceremony.

The pavilion had long been available for rental and use for secular events.

Today's ruling states in part, "When it invites the public at large to use it, the Association is subject to the Law Against Discrimination, and enforcement of that law in this context does not affect the Association’s constitutionally protected right to free exercise of religion."

The ruling -- called a "Finding of Probable Cause" -- does not resolve the civil rights complaint. It means only that the state has concluded its preliminary investigation and determined there is "sufficient evidence" to support a "reasonable suspicion" the anti-discrimination law has been violated.

Bernstein and Paster, who live in Ocean Grove, had applied for permission to rent the pavilion for their civil union ceremony in March 2007, but the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which owns the pavilion, denied their request because it said the civil union ceremony conflicted with the religious beliefs of the United Methodist Church (UMC).

While this is a victory for our side, the case has been a rallying point for those against gay marriage. This ruling will, no doubt, add fuel to the fire of their claims that gay marriage does constrict religious freedom in this country.

Except for one thing.

When One News Now and the rest of the religious right start whining about this story, you most likely will not hear these details:

Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which is affiliated with UMC, owns the pavilion and all the land in Ocean Grove -- a nearly one-square-mile section of Neptune Township originally founded as a seaside religious retreat. Homeowners there lease land from the church group.

The Association said it was not required to permit civil union ceremonies in its Boardwalk Pavilion based on First Amendment rights.

But in its investigation, the civil rights division found that the Camp Meeting Association had been permitting the public to use the pavilion for weddings and secular events prior to the request from Bernstein and Paster.

The investigation found that the association was even granted a tax exemption for the pavilion from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) nearly twenty years ago.

The church group was eligible for the exemption under the state's Green Acres law, DEP found, because it said that the pavilion would be open to the public "on an equal basis."

So basically, while the pavilion is the church group's property, the church group has been applying for tax breaks under a state law that requires said property to be open and nondiscriminatory for all.

Seems to me that if you are applying for and receiving tax breaks under a law that requires your property to be open to the public on an equal basis, then you should follow that law.

Whether you are a religious body or not.

UPDATE - Box Turtle Bulletin breaks the situation down with its usual excellent analysis.