Some in Barstow embrace gay marriage decision, others plan to ‘circle the wagons’

BARSTOW — When Beth Peralta heard about the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage on Thursday, she was at the bank.

Peralta, a 28-year-old Barstow resident, immediately called her girlfriend and told her to turn on the television. The couple, who have been together for about a year, have not talked about marriage yet, but now they see it as an option.

“It makes us feel like we’re not second-class citizens,” Peralta said.

She felt like a second-class citizen when her sexual orientation ended her career with the U.S. Air Force. The United States military maintains a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“I told, and they said I have to go,” Peralta said.

Since returning to her hometown of Barstow three years ago, Peralta said she has not encountered any discrimination. Her family is supportive, and her co-workers at Starbucks thought the Supreme Court decision was great, she said.

Members of the Barstow Christian Ministerial Association, which has about 25 active member churches in the Barstow area, were less pleased.
Joe Green, pastor of the New Life Fellowship church and president of the Ministerial Association,  said his members were overwhelmingly in support of Proposition 22, the 2000 initiative placing a ban on gay marriage that the California Supreme Court’s decision has overturned. Proposition 22 passed with 61.4 percent of voters’ support.

“I’m just aghast,” Green said, describing his reaction to Thursday’s ruling overturning the popular vote.

The churches in the Ministerial Association have gathered signatures to help put a referendum on November’s ballot that would amend the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage, and once it appears on the ballot, they will put in outreach efforts to make sure it passes, Green said.

“We’ll kind of circle the wagons and head on,” he said.

Pastor Bernie Samples at the Hi Desert Word Center said that his congregation gathered about 70 signatures towards putting the referendum on the ballot.

“As Christians, we love everyone,” he said. “But as far as the Bible and American traditions, it’s always been a man and a woman is a marriage.”
Samples said that unless the law mandates him to do so, he will not perform a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Other local churches took a similar stance, but not all religious leaders take the same view. Pastor Carol Ziegler at the First Congregational Church of Barstow has already performed a same-sex commitment ceremony in Barstow. That was several years ago, before the California Supreme Court’s decision.

“It was not a wedding. It was not a marriage in terms of having a license, but if they wanted to make a commitment to each other in front of witnesses, I don’t have a problem with that,” she said. “I don’t ask what goes on between the sheets.”

Ziegler’s denomination, the United Church of Christ, ordains gay and lesbian pastors and has taken a stance of endorsing same-sex marriages.

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