Methodist tax-exempt status revoked over gay issue

NEWARK, N.J. — State officials have revoked the tax-exempt status of a Methodist-run seaside pavilion that church officials have said is off-limits to gay and lesbian civil union services.

Lisa P. Jackson, who heads the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, withdrew the Green Acres program tax exempt status because “… it is clear that the pavilion is not open to all persons on an equal basis.”
Several lesbian couples were denied when they asked to hold civil union ceremonies in the boardwalk gazebo overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The Methodists call the open-sided structure a chapel, and say civil unions conflict with Methodist doctrine
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Jackson said the association can continue to claim a tax exemption “for the remainder of the association’s property” on the parcel, but Neptune Township Tax Assessor Bernard Haney insisted a single block and lot number cannot be separated into parts.