Ohio judge asks permission to refuse to marry gays
A judge in Ohio wants to ask the state’s Supreme Court to decide whether he should be allowed to refuse performing same-sex marriages.
The US Supreme Court last month ruled that all couples, straight or gay, have a constitutional right to marriage. States have been rolling out same-sex marriage since.
The AP reports that Municipal Court Judge C Allen McConnell, of Toledo, refused to perform the wedding of a gay couple on Monday.
A different judge was brought in to perform the ceremony, and McConnell apologised “for the delay” the couple experienced on their wedding day.
He says he is happy to perform weddings for straight couples, but his “personal and religious beliefs” prevent him from marrying same-sex couples.
Although Judge McConnell hoped the Supreme Court would rule o the issue, a court spokesman told the AP that he would need to go before an ethics and conduct board.
Caroyln Wilson spoke to the Blade to say that her wedding day was affected by the judge’s behaviour, and that she was told by his bailiff that he “didn’t do ‘these types of marriages.'”
“You wait so long for this opportunity,” she said. “Because we wanted to handle it civilly, we didn’t think there would be any issue at all.”
