Saskatchewan Issues Edict That Marriage Commissioners Must Marry Same Sex Couples, Washington D.C. Pastor Declares Civil War After Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Same Sex Marriage Voter Initiative, European Court Of Human Rights To Hear Russian Same Sex Marriage Case, Smithsonian Head Says He Would Remove AIDS-Themed Video Again But Differently, Audit Reveals Six Years Of Discharges Under Gay Military Ban Cost Taxpayers Nearly $200 Million

Following a ruling last week by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that religious beliefs cannot be used as a reason to refuse to marry same sex couples, the Globe and Mail reports that Justice Minister Don Morgan said Tuesday that the province’s marriage commissioners are to receive a letter explaining the court’s decision and a warning that they are to follow the ruling or lose their job. “They’ll have to make a decision: either they comply with the ruling or alternatively they surrender their license. In the event that they don’t, and they’re contravening it, then we would of course take steps to terminate their appointment as a commissioner,” said Morgan. There are just fewer than 400 licensed marriage commissioners in the province, and several have indicated that they are prepared to quit or to defy the ruling, inviting termination. Larry Bjerland is one of those, saying he is not trying to be “bull-headed” but he is not about to change his stance opposing same sex marriage. “My main reason for refusing is that it’s not right in the eyes of God and, at 73, I’m getting closer to that time where I’m going to have to face him. I want to be able to do that with a clear conscience.”

Reverend Anthony Evans, a Washington D.C.-based minister who has worked with the vehemently anti-gay Bishop Harry Jackson – who brought suit seeking to invalidate the 10-month old same sex marriage law in the District, which the United States Supreme Court ruling this week it was refusing to hear, according to a report from Religion Dispatches, called the decision “a travesty of justice” and accused the court of forcing the same sex marriage statute “down the church’s law,” adding that what the Supreme Court “has set up is the greatest civil war between the church and the gay community. And let me just state for the record, we don’t want that fight. We love our gay brothers and sisters. But if the Supreme Court is not going to acknowledge the fact that we have a right as religious people to have a say-so in the framework of religious ethics for our culture and society, then we reject the Supreme Court on this issue.”

The European Court of Human Rights has accepted a lawsuit by a Russian lesbian couple who challenged the refusal by authorities to register their marriage, according to the Moscow Times. Irina Fet and Irina Shipitko were married in Canada with the Russian Embassy approving their marriage certificate, but a Moscow registry office refused to register the union, the courts upholding the decision in 2009.

The Associated Press reports that Wayne Clough, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute who earlier this week said that he removed a 4 minute video by the late David Wojnarowicz – an excerpt from a longer video work, Fire in My Belly – because the controversy threatened to eclipse the exhibition about gay contributions to art, and become a largely conversation about religious desecration, said Thursday that he would make the same decision over again, but that it would be handled in more efficient way. Clough, speaking in Los Angeles at a town hall luncheon, and on the institution’s Web site, said he is examining better means to gather advice from consultants and directors, and that in the past few weeks he has talked to hundreds of people and received hundreds of e-mails. “I respect and appreciate the opinions and advice they have shared with me, particularly with respect to how the Smithsonian communicates and consults on important issues. I am committed to improving these processes so that this Institution can meet the challenges of its public mission, including our role in educating about complex topics that involve social transitions or incorporate, in art or objects, cultural or religious symbols.” The controversy began when Clough, acting on complaints from the Catholic League, removed the video excerpt from Fire in My Belly that showed ants crawling atop a crucifix – the League saying the imagery was sacrilegious. The video was a part of Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture that opened in October and is scheduled to run through February. Clough says he cut the video to save the other 100-plus pieces in the exhibit and to preserve the Smithsonian’s long-term stability. He added that the museum is predicting “very difficult budget situations “with Congress over the next few months because of the federal deficit, an estimated 65-percent of the Smithsonian operating budget coming from public funds. Throughout, critics have charged that Clough simply exercised censorship, and other institutions, including the Andy Warhol Foundation, condemned the decision.

An analysis by the Government Accountability Office states that discharging openly gay service personal cost the Pentagon nearly $200 million from 2004 – 2009, most of the money spent to recruit and train replacements, reports Bloomberg. The GAO says it cost an average of $52,800 per discharge. The Defense Department honourably discharged 3,664 openly gay service members from fiscal 2004 through 2009 under the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” President Obama signed legislation in late December repealing the then 17-year old policy, although the ban remains in effect.