Methodists group, two couples to mediate over civil-union site

By BILL BOWMAN, from thnt.com Online, July 17, 2007

OCEAN GROVE, NJ — The Camp Meeting Association has agreed to mediation with two same-sex couples claiming discrimination over the association's refusal to allow them to use the boardwalk pavilion for a civil-union ceremony.

At the same time, the association has been hit with a second complaint, filed through the state Division on Civil Rights, by a same-sex couple also claiming "public-accommodation discrimination."  The division declined to comment Monday.

Association chief administrative officer the Rev. Scott M. Hoffman said in an e-mailed statement Monday that the association remains "very optimistic and look(s) forward to resolving this issue through the mediation process."

Hoffman could not be reached for further comment.  The Camp Meeting Association is a Methodist ministry that owns all the land and boardwalk in the oceanfront enclave that is now part of Neptune.

Harriet Bernstein, 65, and Luisa Paster, 59, of Broadway filed a complaint in June alleging public-accommodation discrimination over the association's refusal to allow them to use the pavilion for their same-sex civil-union ceremony.

The association contends the pavilion is a religious structure, and the Methodist Church's Book of Discipline prohibits any same-sex ceremonies from being conducted in church structures.

The second complaint was filed earlier this month by Mount Hermon Way residents Janice Moore, 70, and Emily Sonnessa, 77.  The two charge that they were unlawfully denied permission to use the pavilion for their civil-union ceremony, set for September.

Moore said that like Bernstein and Paster, she and Sonnessa will go to neighboring Bradley Beach for their civil-union ceremony.