NC Magistrate: ‘I Won’t Be Performing Your Marriage Because Of My Religious Beliefs’

A magistrate in North Carolina has refused to marry a same-sex couple because of his “religious beliefs.”

In the north eastern corner of North Carolina lies Pasquotank County, home to about 40,000 people including William Locklear and Randall Jackson of Elizabeth City, nicknamed the “Harbor of Hospitality®.” Yesterday, as the first same-sex couples in the Tar Heel State to be granted marriage licenses celebrated, one couple in particular could not – because they weren’t allowed to marry.

Together for 31 years, William Locklear and Randall Jackson went to the Pasquotank County Courthouse but say they were told by a state magistrate, “I won’t be performing your marriage because of my religious beliefs.”

The magistrate is a State employee and “cannot refuse” to perform their job functions, which include various civil duties – including officiating at weddings – says Pasquotank County Clerk of Superior Court Connie Thornley. She confirmed that a magistrate had refused.

“It has all happened so fast,” Thornley told The Virginian-Pilot. “All this has passed, and they didn’t have things in place.”

But William Locklear says the magistrate “has to do his job. He is not there to preach to us.”

“There’s a lot of confusion,” Randall Jackson says. “We just want to be married.”

“Thornley had concerns that more than one magistrate could resign over his or her beliefs, which could lead to a shortage,” The Virginian-Pilot adds. 

The couple plans to return today. 

 

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