Add Kern, Merced and Kings counties to the places in California where officials are resisting the state Supreme Court’s recent overturning of state voters’ will on gay marriage.
Just as the Supreme Court decided it didn’t have to listen to the majority of Californians, some county clerks are trying to find ways not to have to listen to the majority on the court.
According to stories over the weekend, Kern’s and Merced’s county clerks issued statements that they will give out the new “Participant A and B” marriage licenses beginning June 17, but they would not preside over gay marriage ceremonies, citing space and staff constraints.
In the case of Kern County, clerk Ann Barnett plans to stop ALL marriage ceremonies in the county on June 14.
Merced County’s Stephen Jones initially said the same thing about stopping all marriage ceremonies, but later retracted the statement under pressure from county officials who agreed to hire more clerks and provide more office space. Jones has asked county attorneys to file a brief opposing implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling, according to sources.
In Kings County, the clerk is citing a legal loophole as throwing in doubt whether the county has to actually issue the new marriage licenses starting June 17.
Although the state’s Office of Vital Records ordered courts to start using the new gay marriage licenses once the Supreme Court’s ruling becomes final on June 16 at 5 p.m., the Supreme Court in its decision also ordered a lower-level court that had upheld California’s law on traditional marriage to issue a new order favoring gay marriage. However, it’s not clear when that appeals court must comply. Kings County is taking the stand that it doesn’t have to issue gay marriage licenses until that court issues the revised order.
Stay tuned as the war heats up.
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Interested in this topic? Try reading:
Male and Female He Made Them: Questions and Answers about Marriage and Same-Sex Unions
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