WASHINGTON — Black clergy members who support same-sex marriage say they want to dispel the myth that all African-American ministers are against it.

About a dozen clergy members joined the Rev. Al Sharpton on Friday at a news conference in Washington to express support for a November referendum in Maryland to allow same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Delman Coates, who is senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton,  says people don’t have the right to impose personal religious beliefs on others in matters of public policy.

Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, says theological debates should take place in churches, not in government.

Maine and Washington also are deciding whether same-sex marriage should be legal. Minnesota is voting on a constitutional ban.

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