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DemocratSinceBirth

(99,705 posts)
Mon Oct 13, 2014, 12:22 PM Oct 2014

Las Vegas gay conservatives challenge ‘early’ marriage licenses

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iming and irony are sometimes twin bedfellows.

Clark County Clerk Diana Alba found herself talking to reporters on Tuesday, explaining the nuances of how staff check photo identifications of applicants for marriage licenses for the listed gender. That was just hours before a whirlwind court ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned Nevada’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Alba’s comments were prompted by a complaint filed with the Nevada attorney general’s office that alleges illegal same-sex marriages are already happening in the wedding chapel capital of the world. The complaint names Alba, whose office handles the applications for marriage licenses, Clark County Recorder Debbie Conway, whose office records the marriage certificates, and Deputy Marriage Commissioner Kathryn Parker, alleging the staffer performed a same-sex civil marriage.

The complaint was filed Oct. 2 by none other than the Log Cabin Republicans of Nevada, an organization that represents gay conservatives that backs equal rights.

“We believe that marriage equality is important to our religious freedom and personal liberty, but not at the expense of due process and the rule of law,” the organization’s website reads, announcing its complaint.

To bolster its case, the organization included 10 marriage certificates that it says were issued to same-sex couples. Some of the couple’s first names very much appear to be the same gender. Marc and Gregory, Carl and Joel, and Brian and Shawn are some of the couples listed.

Alba explained that staff members have to go by the genders listed on the photo identification, not the names or appearance of couples.

Alba isn’t running for another term, while Conway is facing a Republican candidate, Don Hotchkiss.

Edward Williams, president of the Republican organization, said he’s still pursuing the matter.

— Ben Botkin

http://www.reviewjournal.com/political-eye/las-vegas-gay-conservatives-challenge-early-marriage-licenses
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