By Peter J. Smith
SAN DIEGO, June 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Officials in Kern, Calaveras, and Butte counties in California say they plan on closing their doors to performing all civil wedding ceremonies rather than be forced to “wed” same-sex couples when the state’s Supreme Court ruling permitting same-sex “marriage” goes into effect tomorrow. The counties have cited staff and budget restrictions as their main reasons for closing their doors, saying they are not equipped to handle any influx of same-sex couples looking for “weddings.”
Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett made the announcement after the county’s legal counsel and attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund informed her office that she could not choose to marry some couples and not others without incurring a lawsuit.
For today the counties will continue to issue the neutered marriage licenses that replace the old appellations of “bride” and “groom” with the novel “Party A” and “Party B.” But when the California Supreme Court ruling takes effect Tuesday, clerks in those counties will direct all couples seeking wedding ceremonies to other counties.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom reacted with outrage to the announcement that some county offices would cease issuing licenses.
“The idea that they don’t have the resources is absurd,” Newsom told the San Francisco Business Times, adding that officials should “be more honest and say we can’t stand the idea of gay people getting married so we’re going to break the law.”
Newsom is well known as one of the nation’s foremost advocates of same-sex marriage, having made headlines in 2004 when he broke the law and ordered San Francisco to begin issuing “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples. Eventually the Supreme Court was forced to step in, putting a stop to the issuing of such licenses and declaring null and void some 4,000 licenses issued to same-sex couples under the mayor’s directives.
San Diego County, however, will once again begin performing civil ceremonies for homosexual couples under the Supreme Court’s newest ruling, despite the more than 200 petitions received by the County Clerk and the county Board of Supervisors, urging them to wait until voters decide the fate of a constitutional amendment in November that would ban same-sex “marriage.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
California Supreme Court Refuses to Stay Same-Sex “Marriage” Decision
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060406.html
No More “Brides” and “Grooms” When California Opens Wide Gates to Same-Sex Marriage June 17
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052908.html
10 States Beg California Supreme Court to Hold Off on Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060213.html
California Supreme Court Imposes Homosexual ‘Marriage’ on State
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051502.html
California Supreme Court Asked to Stay “Gay Marriage” Order until November Public Ballot
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051602.html