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State Clerk Refuses To Marry Gays, Refuses To Step Down
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Sep 28, 2011
Modified Sep 28, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Sep 28, 2011
Modified Sep 28, 2011
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When the state legalized gay marriage over the summer, many people, gay and straight, were psyched. Some were not. One state clerk resigned from her post rather than sign her name on a gay marriage license, and now, another state clerk is refusing to sign same-sex marriage licenses. Only this time, she's not resigning.
Rose Marie Belforti, a clerk in the tiny upstate town of Ledyard, refused to sign a license for a lesbian couple who have been together for 10 years, Deirdre DiBiaggio and Katie Carmichael, due to her religious beliefs. “God doesn’t want me to do this, so I can’t do what God doesn’t want me to do," Belforti said. But, “New York law protects my right to hold both my job and my beliefs...I'm not supposed to have to leave my beliefs at the door at my government job.” Her oh-so-convenient workaround is to arrange for a deputy to issue all marriage licenses by appointment, for gay and straight couples alike.
"To have her basically telling us to get in the back of the line is just not acceptable," said Carmichael, who, along with DiBiaggio, is considering a lawsuit against Belforti. And Governor Cuomo agrees: "When you enforce the laws of the state, you don’t get to pick and choose,” he said. A petition has already started online to get Belforti out of office, and another Ledyard resident, Ed Easter, is seeking to defeat Belforti in a write-in campaign when she is up for re-election in November. "Just vote her out of office,” he said. Democracy in action, people!
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gay marriage
ledyard
marriage equality
marriage license
state clerk
Jamie Feldmar
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