ORLANDO, Fla. - Wedding bells have stopped ringing in the courthouses of several northern Florida counties, where clerks opted to cease all marriage ceremonies rather than administer vows to gay couples when same-sex marriage becomes legal next week.
The vast majority of Florida clerks plan to marry same-sex couples starting on Jan. 6, after a stay expires on a federal court decision striking down the state's same-sex marriage ban.
cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });
console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }But in at least five of the state's 67 counties, in conservative northern Florida, all ceremonies are off.
"The majority of my staff have a lot of Christian beliefs and I can't force them to marry people," said Stacie Harvey, clerk of court in Baker County, which stopped performing marriage ceremonies from Jan. 1.