The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has just completed a study of 1000 state laws and concluded that at least 350 of them would likely trigger liability for conscientious objectors, including religious organizations, should same-sex marriage be recognized.

Their conclusion was that “Legal recognition of same-sex marriage—whether imposed by courts or enacted by legislatures—poses a great threat to freedom of conscience that has been honored in this country before the Founding.”

They recommend that “legislatures amend state antidiscrimination statutes now to include robust exemptions for those with religious or other conscientious objections to same-sex marriage.”

They conclude that, “Lawsuits will likely arise when religious people or religious organizations choose, based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, not to hire individuals in same-sex marriages, refuse to extend spousal benefits to same-sex spouses, refuse to make their property or services available for same-sex marriage ceremonies or other events affirming same-sex marriage, or refuse to provide otherwise available housing to same-sex couples. This wide-ranging conflict between governments and conscientious citizens would take years of litigation to resolve, assuming that it could be resolved.”

The state provisions that trigger the threat to religious liberty include anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation, gender, and marital status. The report notes that “Because gender discrimination laws are on the books in all 50 states, moral objections to same-sex marriage could be treated as a form of gender discrimination in every state.”

Thirty-seven of these states have some kind of religious exemptions in their laws, but most of these are quite narrow and only apply to certain categories of religious activity.

To read the full report from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty click here.