TRENTON, N.J.—A church group sued New Jersey Aug. 13 over the state’s investigation of a complaint that the group refused to allow a lesbian couple to hold a civil union ceremony at a beachfront pavilion it owns.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group, alleges that by finding enough reason to investigate the complaint, the state’s Division on Civil Rights is threatening to prosecute the group in order to force it to allow such ceremonies to take place.

Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster of Ocean Grove filed the complaint after the association rejected their application to use the pavilion and returned their $75 deposit. The group said it rejected the application because the church does not recognize same-sex unions.

“In an apparent distortion of the First Amendment, they are claiming that they have the right to discriminate against people who do not share their religious tenets,” Bernstein said.

In a statement, Lee Moore, a spokesman for the state’s attorney general, described the lawsuit as “premature,” saying the division hasn’t come to any conclusion about the case.

“To date, the Division on Civil Rights has asserted nothing beyond its right to initiate an investigation to determine whether there has been a violation of the law against discrimination,” Moore said.