Generally,
when a couple heads to their local courthouse or county clerk’s office, they
can both receive a marriage license and have their marriage officiated. That is
no longer true in 14 Florida counties that have changed their policies
anticipating the arrival
of marriage equality this week.
Clerks
in those counties have offered various justifications to
the Tampa Bay Times for ending their courthouse
wedding services, including cramped offices, staff limitations, and shrinking
budgets. Others admitted that same-sex marriage was a contributing factor.
Pasco
County Clerk of Court Paula O’Neil said that most of her staff were
“uncomfortable” officiating same-sex weddings, and ending the practice was the
only way to avoid discriminating or transferring them all to different
departments. Okaloosa County Clerk J.D. Peacock II told his staff in a memo, “I
do not want to have members of our team put in a situation which presents a
conflict between their personal religious beliefs and the implementation of a
contentious societal philosophy change.”
As Joe
Jervis points out, almost all of the counties that
have ended the practice are in the traditionally more-conservative panhandle
region of Florida. Couples of any gender seeking to wed in those counties will
have to find another officiant willing and able to marry them. It’s unclear
what they’ll be expected to do if they can’t find an alternative.
http://zionica.com/2015/02/07/avoid-marrying-sex-couples-14-florida-counties-stop-courthouse-weddings/
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