by Rex Wockner
National News Briefs
Twenty-four of the 112 employees in the San Diego county clerk's office who were deputized to perform marriages asked to be excused from marrying same-sex couples, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported July 9.
The newspaper acquired heavily redacted copies of the employees' e-mails via a public-records request.
Eventually, 18 of the 24 objectors changed their minds, after learning they could not opt out of performing same-sex marriages without also being transferred to a new job elsewhere in the county bureaucracy.
The e-mails said such things as "I am not going to compromise my beliefs or standards for anyone, not even the Supreme Court of California" and "I do respect the rights of other citizens who are now asserting same-sex marriages but I also need to assert my right to religious freedom."
In the end, 18 employees, the Union-Tribune noted, "still handle same-sex marriage as part of their duties despite unfavorable attitudes toward the practice."
