A Voice of Reason in Kern Co.

Timothy Kincaid

June 6th, 2008

Not every elected official in Kern County places their personal biases above their duty. County Supervisor Don Maben is now trying to clean up after the mess made by Clerk Ann K. Barnett… and he’s not lovin’ it.

“I think it sucks,” Maben said of Barnett’s decision to cease county clerk’s office weddings June 13. “The fact is this is a service that has been provided for a long time and to take away the rights of any citizen because of your personal beliefs when you’re a public official is wrong.”

I’ve still not determined whether there are other measures in place to accommodate non-religious marriages in Kern County, but it appears that Maben shares my concern.

A county supervisor is looking for ways to offer civil marriages — gay and straight — in Kern now that the county clerk’s office will no longer do it.

Supervisor Don Maben said this afternoon that on Tuesday, he will ask the county administrative office to look into options for providing the low-cost service.

In a related article, the Californian reveals that many residents avail themselves of the County’s services to avoid the cost (about $300) of hiring the services of a third party. About 20% of the county population lives below the poverty line.

See also:
Kern Co. Supervisors Reject Anti-Gay Ordinance
Calaveras County Joins Kern and Butte
Barnett Breaks Her Media Silence – Stupidly, of Course
Chad Vegas – Kern Co. School Board Trustee’s Double Standard
Ann Barnett Annoys Local Bakersfield Media
Two More California Counties Stop Officiating at Weddings
CA Anti-Gays Either Completely Idiotic or Shameless Liars
No Non-Religious Marriages in Kern County
A Voice of Reason in Kern Co.
Kern Co. (Bakersfield) Clerk Ann K. Barnett Cancels Straight Weddings
More Bakersfield Bigotry
Bakersfield – Not a Place to Plan Your Wedding

Regan DuCasse

June 8th, 2008

The prejudice that requires horns to be consistent.
This religious objection can and does only have opportunity because a gay couple has horns, so to speak.
Like the mixed couples before them, they have the visible mark to segregate them from the other couples whose sins and predilictions don’t show their horns.

The adulterers, the divorced, the criminals, the murderers, the liars and cheats and thieves…ironically, have no horns.
The Campaign for Children and Families is encouraging all clerks to deny gay couples their licenses.
And consider themselves wearing the mantle of noble civil disobedice, like the civil rights workers before them for doing so.

How pathetically WHACK is that?! It was the clerks objecting to mixed marriages who withheld their duty. If the CFCF were consistent with civil RIGHTS advocates, they’d WANT the gay couples to have the licenses.

If ALL couples are denied licenses, this WOULD be consistent at least with the religious protest.
But the TIMING of such a protest WOULDN’T be.
Because for that objection to be consistent, then these people wouldn’t be clerks in the first place because the horns of the OTHER couples wouldn’t allow them to know if they are carrying out their beliefs consistently. And would have given up their positions long ago.

And what this really does is lessen the opportunity for the county to collect money from the marriage fees. If this county has so many people living on Brokeassed Mountain, it’s supremely selfish of the clerks to not allow such much needed funds into the coffers.

This is a prime example of prejudice doing NO GOOD, but bigotry creating no winners.

And a morally sound principle, like equality under the law, always has winners. It’s just that some people don’t know it yet, and refuse to see it that way.

Glenn I

June 8th, 2008

What if employees of the county clerk defied la Barnett and went ahead and officiated at weddings? Would they be fired? Disciplined? If they were, could they sue her?

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