The self-immolation of the sort of faithful

Here's a weird one, courtesy of the NY Times:

In a protest against the Episcopal Church's refusal to allow same-sex marriages, the leaders of a church in the stately East Rock section of this city have announced that they will perform no marriage ceremonies at all.

Why is this weird? Well, I'm not Catholic or high church (and I'm under the impression that the Episcopal faith is as close as England could come to Catholicism without recognizing the Pope), but I was under the impression that marriage is a sacrament. And during the Middle Ages, the worst punishment you could visit on the faithful was excommunication -- which denied them access to the sacraments. It's weird now to see a church voluntarily refuse to perform a sacrament, punishing people who have nothing whatsoever to do with the problem that specific church has identified. Somehow it seems to me that the church is shooting itself in the foot. That is, it seems to be excommunicating itself, rather than its faithful.