UPDATED: More Than a Dozen Florida Counties Just Got Out Of The Wedding Business

With same-sex marriage about to become legal in the Sunshine State, some Florida counties are opting to not marry anyone at all.

At the stroke of midnight tonight, same-sex couples in all 67 Florida counties will be able to marry. Able, that is, if they pre-arrange a wedding officiant. While same-sex marriage may be legal across the Sunshine State tomorrow, more than a dozen counties have decided to not assist in the celebration any more than the law requires.

At least 13 counties are refusing to marry same-sex couples – or any couple at all – rather than force county clerks to do the job the taxpayers hired them to do: officiate at weddings. Same-sex couples can still obtain a marriage license in all counties, but may or may not be able to be married at the court house by a state officiant.

“It was an easy decision to make,” Pasco County Clerk of Court Paula O’Neil told the Tampa Bay Times. Her Pasco County Clerk’s website states the change was effective October 1.

Some of her rationale was financial: Pasco is experiencing a construction boom, generating extra work for her employees. But there were personal and religious components as well. Most of her staff who handle marriage licenses were “uncomfortable” officiating same-sex weddings, she said.

“The problem is we can’t discriminate,” she said. “So there are some people who would have wanted to transfer to another area, and we can’t transfer everybody.” 

The Times on Friday confirmed that no couples will be married by county officiants in these counties: Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, Calhoun, Liberty, Franklin, Wakulla, Baker, Clay, Duval and Pasco.

It’s unclear – and may vary by county – if the head clerk of each county has the legal right to determine if clerks or duly-appointed court employees may pick and choose which duties they will and will not perform. 

But clerks are elected, and should they choose to reduce services, that may bode ill for them come Election Day.

As NCRM reported, one Jacksonville attorney has offered to marry couples refused by Duval County clerk Ronnie Fussell.

UPDATE – 8:55 PM EST:
Pasco County Clerk of Court Paula O’Neil has now told Fox’s Tampa Bay affiliate that she has arranged to have a notary and a judge on standby to marry couples. 

 

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