Asheville official ready to say yes to same-sex marriage licenses (Charlotte: 2013, attorney)
Western North CarolinaThe Mountain Region including Asheville
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I see below there is a thread on voter fraud in Boone. The fraud is in Asheville and was committed by someone that had no intention of uploading the state constitution which he swore an oath to do. If it isn't fraud perhaps it is ignorance but if your job is DIRECTLY controlled by the constitution and you decide to go against it until AFTER you are told otherwise, then I suggest you get a different job.
He could have been far less a wuss just to go ahead and issue marriage licenses to same sex couples and play dumb until caught. Otherwise it's a stunt. Because, believe it or not, this official could have asked this question after the law changed or I DON'T KNOW BEFORE HE BREAKS IT. But he wants to be a rebel with a safety card because no elected official working directly under the constitution should be expected to understand it. He probably doesn't even know how to unlock his offices door.
The register of deeds is saying that he is going to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, put them and them put them on hold until he hears back from the attorney general. In other words, the very simple part of our constitution is something that he is not clear on. Or he's playing a game.
He also incorrectly asserts that gay people cannot marry in North Carolina.
Regardless of his, yours or my opinions on the issues and effects here, he has sworn an oath to uphold the constitution and now basically is saying that a fundamental part of his job is not understood by him.
He also incorrectly asserts that gay people cannot marry in North Carolina.
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North Carolina does not legally recognize any same-sex union, including civil unions and same-sex marriages. A state constitutional amendment was voted into effect on May 8, 2012, banning same-sex unions and defining marriage between a man and a woman as the only valid "domestic legal union" in the state.[1][2] Before passage, state law had already restricted marriage to a man and woman in statute §51‑1.2.[3] The constitutional amendment bans not only same-sex marriage but civil unions.[4] Some cities in the state recognize both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partnerships. According to 2010 census data, there were 228,000 North Carolina couples in domestic partnerships and 12 percent of those were same-sex couples.[1][5]
Or:
He also incorrectly asserts that gay people can marry in North Carolina?
No. No typo. My goal isn't to discuss whether gay people can marry in North Carolina. If you want to believe they cannot then OK. If you wish to debate it then the better forum is the parent to this one and not Western North Carolina unless there is a law in Asheville that says gay people can't marry that supersedes our constitution.
Again, that issue aside my beef is someone playing a game with the constitution as an elected official. He is the executor of marriage licenses. It is his business to know the law. He isn't a lawmaker who is voting on something he agrees with coming out of committee. HE IS THE ONE THAT CARRIES OUT THE LAW.
Jeff Thigpen has been mentioned in the forums as being someone who announced his support for same sex marriage. I like him very much (Guilford County). But when these activists came to him (and Durham) he did not break the law. He did not pretend to not understand or all of a sudden have amnesia for a law he's been respecting for a year (and ultimately the will of the citizens). He politely refused and they politely sued him. Fair enough. Jeff then immediately sent out a letter of support and posted his thoughts on facebook. There literally was not enough time for this to happen after the opening of the office that day. Do I have a problem with that? NO. The people elected him to carry out the law and they also support him politically which is fine. Let him use his office to foster support for SSM. That's 100% cool with me.
So you know I don't like it the way one person does it and I like it the way another one does it. That doesn't show where I stand on the issue. But it shows that I respect the one that respects his oath. This person in Asheville could do everything else except issue the license. For that, I'd like to see him thrown out of office if not in to jail.
But to cut you some slack in my OP I state (or infer) that the letter of the law is what I think an elected official should follow. If he does not understand this after a year then he needs to go work someplace else.
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