Can the State Employees Individually Deny People Marriage?

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by Bureaucat

Very true. If they feel that their religious convictions prevent them from performing duties required of their office, the ethical option would be to resign.

However I can foersee in some states them running as a single issue candidate for clerk to prevent gay marriages devaluing traditional marriage. That is unless there is an expedited supreme Court case ruling for gay couples and even heterosexual couples harmed by these religious activists on public payrolls voted in by the people.

[Bureaucat]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

I would vote against any AG defending such laws, as I do not want them wasting taxpayer $. I want them to have common sense.

I agree with you. Here in Kentucky, our current AG refused to defend the state's anti-gay constitutional amendment before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that (1.) it violated the U.S. Constitution equal protection clause and would it would be a waste of taxpayers money by trying to defend it and (2.) he personally could not morally defend an law that blatantly discriminated against lesbian and gays. After Conway refused to defend Gov. Steve Beshear stepped in and hired an outside firm to defend the law. Why he did so is puzzling to me, since he leaves office at the end of the year, and is pushing 70 so he's heading into the political sunset, so pandering for votes for a future election doesn't make sense.

As for Conway, he took his position despite the fact he was running for Governor this year in an extremely conservative state. The politically expedient, and gutless, approach would to have said that he was personally against the amendment but as the state's attorney he was bound to defend "the will of the people" in court.
He didn't do that. He said that trying to defend it was legally groundless, and he was proven correct.

Now he'll probably get crushed by Matt Bevin in the governor's race in 3 months, in part of his action on the gay marriage issue but he has my admiration for the stance he took.