Sally Kern’s Bill Banning State Employees From Issuing Same-Sex Marriage Licenses Advances

Two bills that effectively ban the State of Oklahoma from issuing marriage licenses just passed a House committee.

Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern last month filed three anti-gay bills that targeted same-sex marriage, protected conversion therapy, and provided a license to discriminate against LGBT people. Kern withdrew her pro-discrimination bill, but the other two are still in play.

On Tuesday, Kern’s anti-gay marriage bill, the Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act, successfully passed the House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee by a 5-3 vote. It now is headed to the full House.

The bill, HB 1599, makes it illegal for any state employee to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. The punishment is, effectively, firing. 

“No employee of this state and no employee of any local governmental entity shall officially recognize, grant or enforce a same-sex marriage license and continue to receive a salary, pension or other employee benefit at the expense of taxpayers of this state,” the bill reads. “No taxes or public funds of this state shall be spent enforcing any court order requiring the issuance or recognition of a same-sex marriage license,” it adds. 

LOOK: GOP State Rep. Sally Kern Announces Trifecta Of Anti-Gay Legislation

Freedom Oklahoma executive director Troy Stevenson frames Kern’s bill this way: “if they do their job, they will lose their job.”

Another anti-gay marriage bill passed the Oklahoma House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee yesterday also.

Rep. Todd Russ’s bill, HB 1125, makes the issuance of marriage licenses to any couple – regardless of gender – by the State of Oklahoma effectively impossible.

Were Rep. Russ’s bill to become law, Oklahoma would issue marriage certificates, but not licenses, effectively relegating marriage to a religious institution without any legal protections, except possibly common law protections.

“The Supreme Court and the Federal Government try to pretty much cram down our throat what they say we have to believe in Oklahoma,” Russ says, explaining the reason for his legislation.

Stevenson, via a press release, says the bills are “a mean-spirited distraction” from Oklahoma’s looming $600 million budget deficit and part of “a vindictive agenda.”

 

Image via Flickr