SANTO DOMNINGO.- Representatives of the more than 1,600 evangelical churches today rallied in front of the Dominican Supreme Court (SCJ), to file an appeal as unconstitutional against the agreement between the Dominican State and the Catholic Church -known as the Concordat- and to protest against gay marriages.

The preachers, pertaining to the Jesus Ministry is Health and Life, met in the new SCJ building’s frontal esplanade, with pickets and signs rejecting gay marriages, and then filed the appeal against the 1954 resolution, which establishes the Concordat between the Dominican State and the Vatican.

It asks the SCJ to declare this resolution void and without any legal effect or responsibility for the State, because in their view it is contrary to the Constitution, specifically, against the Concordat’s article one, and which reads textually: "the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion, continues being the one of the Dominican nation and will enjoy the rights and the prerogatives that correspond in conformity with the divine law and the canonical right."

Domingo Paulino Moya, speaking for the group, said that the Dominican Constitution establishes freedom of conscience and cult, and if the country abides by that agreement, it would become a denominational State.

He added that that situation does not guarantee the rights of religious minorities in Dominican territory.