Same-sex couples won’t be able to marry in Decatur County, Tennessee, now that the entire county clerk’s office has resigned.
“It’s for the glory of God. He’s going to get all the glory,” says Decatur County Clerk Gwen Pope over her decision to resign her elected position rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the 345 square miles that are home to just under 12,000 people.
“It’s kind of sort of like you don’t want to draw attention to yourself for any reason,” Pope says. “That’s not why we’re doing this. Not doing it in any way to draw attention to us.”
But it has drawn attention. Pope, and her two employees, Sharon Bell and Mickey Butler, comprise the entire county clerk’s office, and all three have quit for the same reason.
WBIR reports that the “telephone in the Decatur County Clerk Office rang nonstop Thursday morning, and a steady stream of people came into the small room.”
Over and over again, people praised the decision of the three workers who have decided to step down from their positions rather than hand out same-sex marriage licenses.
All three quit without jobs to go to. July 14 is their last day of work.Â
“I honestly believe God will take care of us,” Pope says.
They clearly have a lot of support from local residents, like Kathy Parrish, who believes same-sex marriage “is wrong because it goes against the Bible and everything God intended for it to be. That wasn’t God’s plan. God’s plan was for men to be with women and women to be with men.”
Others, who are opposed to discrimination, also support the resignations.
“If they were elected, and it’s the law and they don’t want to do what the law says of course you should step down,” Carlton Sanders, the owner of a car wash across from the court house, says. “Hey, they decided it. It went to the top. We go by a justice system and that’s how it is.”
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Image by Brent Moore via Flickr and a CC license