Legal experts on Friday said the Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage could have a sweeping impact on religious conservatives from faith-based universities and nonprofit groups who are major government partners in providing social services to individuals, including county clerks and people in the wedding industry who oppose the celebration of such unions.
The tension between gay rights and religious liberty has been brewing for years as gay equality has spread, and Friday provided no clear solutions, because the court wasn’t considering specific questions of religious freedom. However, both sides have acknowledged in the case that the two are linked, and that faith-based groups will probably have to choose between tax-exempt status or government funding and upholding their view of marriage.
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