Ocean Grove: Lose of tax exempt status for Church

State Environmental Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson today withdrew a state-funded tax break for a Methodist group that refuses to allow gay couples to celebrate their civil unions at the popular beachfront pavilion in Ocean Grove.

Jackson denied the Green Acres program tax exempt status the state had granted to the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association because, she said in a letter sent to the association, "...it is clear that the Pavilion is not open to all persons on an equal basis."

A lesbian couple filed a state civil rights complaint against the Camp Meeting Association earlier this year after their request to hold a civil union at the pavilion was denied. The association, in turn, filed federal civil rights suit, claiming its rights as a church would be violated if it were forced to allow civil unions, which conflict with Methodist doctrine.

Garden State Equality, a gay activist organization supporting the lesbian couple, today claimed the decision as a victory that will cost the Camp Meeting Association "hundreds of thousands of dollars." A response from association was not immediately available this afternoon.