by TChris

First the Mayor of New Paltz was charged with a crime for conducting marriage ceremonies for same sex couples (TalkLeft coverage here). Now a district attorney in Kingston, New York has charged two ministers with criminal offenses for marrying thirteen gay couples "in what is believed to be the first time in the United States that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies." So much for separation of church and state.

Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license, the same charges leveled against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who last month drew the state into the widening national debate over same-sex unions.

Each charge could carry up to two years in jail.

Although District Attorney Donald Williams disclaims any desire "to interfere with anyone's right to express their religious beliefs," a less Demagogic mind might think that forcing a minister to preach through the barred windows of a jail cell constitutes a serious infringement of that minister's right to freely exercise her religion.