Huge Parts of Fla Resist Gay Marriage Ruling
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Same sex marriage is here, but not there…willingly.
While Southeast Florida gays and lesbians rejoiced on Tuesday over their new right to legally marry, other parts of the state balked any way they could.
Take Citrus County.
Developments in Citrus County advertise it as the perfect place for South Floridians to retire. Here is what you are getting into by moving there:
Roughly 150,000 Floridians live in this quiet Republican-leaning enclave just southwest of Ocala. Mitt Romney won Citrus County 60-38 percent two years ago.
Fifteen same sex couples in Citrus County had inquired about marriage licenses. Presumably some of these wanted to get married at the courthouse.
These Citrus County same sex couples are out of luck.
No gay or lesbian marriages were welcome at Citrus County’s Homosassa Springs courthouse.
Citrus County Clerk of the Courts Angele Vick couldn’t legally defy a court order. So she just stopped offering civil marriages to anybody— straight or LGBT — in the courthouse, saying a number of her employees were “uncomfortable” performing same sex marriages.
It is a tactic that quickly spread across North Florida.
Clerks in Calhoun, Clay, Duval, Franklin, Holmes, Jackson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Pasco, Santa Rosa, Wakulla and Washington counties have joined Citrus County in ending courthouse ceremonies, according to various media reports.
It reminds me of the 1960s when communities in the South closed their public schools rather than allow them to be integrated.
This split between the socially liberal enclaves like Southeast Florida and the deeply conservative northern portions of the state is not new. The reaction to the same sex marriage ruling is just another reminder to never confuse Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties with the rest of Florida.
January 6th, 2015 at 11:55 am
In redneck country only the victims change.
January 6th, 2015 at 12:07 pm
Ahhh, Thise Olden Memories!!! Yes, it starts with being Bushwacked and leads to Scott Toilet Tissues with Disney/Villages Money abd The right wingers old financial political arm wrestlers!
January 6th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Meanwhile at the Broward Courthouse they have been working overtime since 12:01 am this morning doing gay marriages.
January 6th, 2015 at 4:17 pm
I saw all the press coverage it seems Michael Rajner was all over the place being interviewed, placing the rainbow flag in the Courthouse etc. I believe I saw him with the megaphone awhile back fighting for gay marriage in Miami. He goes to all the public meetings regarding LGBT issues.
Yet, he supposedly so ill that receives SSI because he can’t work.
Has anyone ever seen this guy in the media not looking fit and tanned? For all he does running around town, are we really to believe that this individual is so sickly he cant work for a living?
To be clear I agree with everything Michael Rajner stands for in regards to equality for the GLBT community. What disgusts me and should everyone else, is that he gets a free ride on SSI because he supposedly can’t work.
Rajner should be seen as an embarrassment to those in the GLBT community who get up every morning have to work for a living.
Before your are critical of me, let me be clear, I have no issue with individuals who are legitimately debilitated from HIV to the point they cannot work. Those people deserve and should get what they can from SSI.
Can anyone seriously look at Rajner and say he is so ill he cant go to work. If you don’t know him Google his name, looks at the interviews, pictures with politicians, all of the organizations and political boards he is on and ask;
Does this really seem like someone who is so ill they can’t hold a job and needs SSI?
January 6th, 2015 at 5:13 pm
There is so much to say about those county clerks in those God fearing counties but no decent person should use that language in public. I still don’t get it. The sun came up this morning. The world did not come to an end. And a lot more loving couples can have the same rights that my husband and I have had for the last 40 years. They should be ashamed of themselves.
January 6th, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Sounds like another reason for
South Florida to secede.
We will call our half Florida and they can call their half Okahumpka
January 6th, 2015 at 9:38 pm
This reminds me of the plight of minorities to use “whites-only” pools.
Instead of allowing “colored folks” to use the pools, they were filled in with concrete.
Hopefully, this ignorance is generational in nature.
January 6th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
Someone should notity northern florida that the confederacy lost the civil war, they seem not to have gotten the word.
January 7th, 2015 at 8:05 am
Friends,
It’s not ignorance.
Prejudiced people know how they feel is wrong. They know it makes no sense. Yet they do it anyway.
Why?
Because they draw artificial comfort from the imaginary notion that there’s a group of people out there who are inferior to them. It means that no matter how terrible they feel about themselves, at least they’re “better” than those of some other group. Instead of applying effort to improve themselves and their sorry lot in life, their lazy answer is to hate somebody else. And in that way feel better about themselves.
Every single prejudiced person knows this is true.
They know they’re inferior and they resent feeling that way so they compensate through prejudice. They do it knowingly and are taught to do that by their parents.
So of course they will revolt when the law comes around and says, sorry. In the US we protect the rights of even those you don’t like. Because they are equal to you. Equal of all things!! The horror of it! This is the dynamic of prejudice.
Thankfully there are people in this world who are comfortable with themselves. They know and appreciate wo know who they are. They understand their place in the world, feel comfortable in their own skin, have self-esteem, were taught self-respect and for others. There are people who don’t question their own sexuality. Who are never threatened by the differences of others.
They have no self-loathing to project at others, if only to preserve what little self-esteem they possess. This is the heart of prejudice. It is a crutch for the truly inferior.
When you see prejudiced people, think mental illness. Pity them. Hope they get help. And move on.
At the end of the day we have the law. And the law doesn’t require that we like one another. It just requires that we respect each others rights. Even those you dislike have rights that must be respected, and not even a State filled with hateful voters can take those rights away.
Such is the beauty and brilliance of our American construct. That’s why, in the larger context, this next chapter in the evolving story of civil rights was not a win for “those” gays or a loss “us” straights. It was a win for the US Constitution.
It was a win for each and every American because as a people we are a little more free today than we were yesterday.
Equal protection was upheld. And that means that our fundamental rights are well protected even if there are those who would see us dehumanized just so they could feel a little better about their own sorry lot in life.
Angelo
January 7th, 2015 at 10:06 am
I would think a Writ of Mandamus from a judge or two would fix this problem quickly.
These clarks have a ministerial and constitutional function to perform, and if they don’t like it, they are free to resign.
January 7th, 2015 at 2:50 pm
They are getting paid to do their job of marrying PEOPLE! they should have no opinion now escpecially since the ruling! The PEOPLE spoke and so did the government quit crying like babies and do your job or im sure you can be easily replaced with a gay person or a person who is not ignorant!