It seems that three counties in Florida have decided to stop all courthouse wedding ceremonies rather than perform any same-sex wedding ceremonies -- but it's not all about anti-gay animus!:
Couples who wanted to skip the pomp and circumstance of a wedding and get married at the Duval, Clay or Baker county courthouses will no longer have that option in the new year.According to the linked article, about 2,200 couples choose courthouse wedding ceremonies in those counties.
These counties’ decision to end the long-standing tradition of courthouse weddings is due, at least in part, to the continued debate over same-sex marriage in Florida against the backdrop of conservative Christianity...
If same-sex marriage is allowed across the state, Duval Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell, Clay Clerk Tara Green and Baker Clerk Stacie Harvey will have no choice but to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. But to avoid performing ceremonies for them, these clerks have decided to end all courthouse weddings.
All said multiple factors contributed to the decision to end courthouse weddings, with gay marriage being just one of them. And they said the new policies will take effect no matter what the courts decide about gay marriage...
Residents of Baker, Clay and Duval counties who want to avoid usual wedding expenses will now have to find a minister or notary to perform the ceremony after they pick up their marriage license, but a place other than the courthouse.
Baker Clerk Harvey said the decision is as much about logistics as it is personal conviction. The room where about weddings are performed each year will now be used as space for people filling out paperwork related to domestic violence injunctions.
“I needed the space and our county we’re in the Bible Belt,” she said. “... If we’re made by the law to issue a gay marriage license (we will) do that, but we are not mandated to marry couples in our courthouse.”
Harvey said there are members of her staff who would be uncomfortable performing same-sex weddings and she did not want to force them. She said she doesn’t feel comfortable performing weddings at all, gay or straight, and hasn’t officiated a ceremony in years.
Justin Horan, general counsel for the Clay County clerk of courts, said the debate over gay marriage accelerated discussions on whether to end courthouse weddings.
“Really it just expedited our evaluation on whether to continue to offer marriage ceremonies,” he said. “We had been talking about it for several months now."
I wonder how many of the clerks in this story would eventually discover that civil weddings for same-sex couples really aren't that horrible if they actually gave it a chance? Or maybe they realize that, and that's why they don't want to take that risk...