Ledyard (N.Y.) clerk won’t sign gay marriage licenses

Source: The (Auburn, N.Y.) Citizen

A town clerk in Cayuga County has informed her town board that because of her religious beliefs, she does not believe she can sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples, according to a member of the board.

Ledyard Town Clerk Rose Marie Belforti submitted a letter to the Ledyard Town Board saying that her religious beliefs prevented her from signing marriage licenses for same-sex couples and the board discussed Belforti’s letter at Monday’s meeting, according to John Binns, a member of the town board.

When reached for comment Thursday, Belforti said “that’s not your business” before hanging up the phone.

... New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group opposing same-sex marriage, launched the “Courage Fund” as a way to help clerks who feel their religious beliefs prevent them from signing same-sex marriage licenses.

Read more: http://auburnpub.com/news/local/article_d84507f0-c48e-11e0-8b09-001cc4c03286.html

or be removed.

Simple.

Tesha

...since she'll be on the street by the end of the summer.

I'm sure the mayor will remove her for cause.

You won't be missed.

If she cannot properly do her job, it is time to leave.

and hire an progressive clerk.

then why get a job that deals with the public?

Fuck her. Fire her.

birth control prescriptions because it clashes with their religious beliefs!

She needs to be denied unemployment because her misconduct in refusing to carry out the duties of her job description resulted in her firing.

She's not "marrying" anyone. She's simply recording a transaction. Who the fuck does she think she is, anyway? Talk about an inflated sense of her own self-importance.

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nt

As are all political and philosophical beliefs too.

"Serve one another in love." I gotta tell ya how self-important that makes a person! Besides, that whole concept has just been so . . . played, you know? It's a good thing we have folks here to tell us all how self-important other people are.

"serve one another in love," that you believe god is speaking to you personally in so ordering, and in thinking that your obeying such an order will earn you an eternity of bliss.

If god said "serve one another in love, but don't expect that to earn any points with me. It might even work against you. I really don't care what you human beings do," (ie: the Deist view) how many people would follow the dictum? I'd suggest that those who did follow the dictum under such circumstances would be the selfless ones. Every other religious person comes from a "what's in it for me" perspective.

Just like in DC and Chicago, when the "powers that be" did not like loosing major lawsuits that struck down their gun control laws, and when they refuse to comply...

Sue them until they DO comply...

The Gun Rights activists show the way when government officials refuse to comply with laws.

and FIRE HER ASS.

NO UNEMPLOYMENT (DUE TO CAUSE)
NO PENSION GRANTED

She violated the State Law by refusing to sign marriage licenses. She is not MARRYING anyone!

She should be fired immediately. And the Town Board, should have a chance to do that before filing a lawsuit..But they should be under no illusion, if they don't remove her, that an very expensive lawsuit, that they have NO HOPE in winning will be in the very short future.

It amazes me how many MILLIONS of taxpayer funds these "local tyrants" are willing to throw away in there defense of a pet lost cause.

Talk about irrelevance.

And like all civil liberties, they are entwined with each other..

If it is OK, to step on one, it is OK to step on them all..

And we learned how to deal with people, or organizations that wish to infringe upon our rights.

The right to defend yourself is a civil right, not the right to tote a gun around. Canada and the UK have the same civil rights as the US, with the exception of defending property. Human life holds a higher value in those countries.
You and a handful of others may think so, but guns are not the answer to everything.

Try to put what you've learned into practice.

Stop derailing the thread. You're painfully obvious--and that is not in a "good" way.

to sing the praises of the NRA.

People have been suing for their Constitutional rights since federal courts opened their doors.

You have a very inflated sense of the NRA in that particular respect. The NRA was rather late to that game.

FYI, Constitution says nothing about "guns rights."

The Bill of Rights refers ONLY to a right to bear arms, which reference may or may not be limited by the language about a well-regulated militia. (Yes, I know what the SCOTUS said.)

So far, the SCOTUS decisions have been very limited in what they actually held, though no one would ever guess that from the claims of most gun advocates.

so that they can find a judge to strike some part of the law down - because of that poison pill in there that invalidates the whole marriage equality law if any portion of it is ruled against.

It's the only chance they've got of 'repealing' marriage equality in NY given the make up of the Legislature and that there's no ballot provision that they can fall back to like Prop 8.

I hope when she gets involved in a suit, they ask her, under oath if there's any financial consideration being paid to her to be the face of this lawsuit. And how many divorced people getting re-married to others she refused to sign for because it violates her religious beliefs.

for their shills, like Paula Jones and Linda Tripp. Tripp didn't even have to bring a lawsuit, just betray someone who thought she was having a private conversation with a friend. No illegal recording charges, either.

because he thought women shouldn't have jobs outside the home.

:rofl:

many, licenses for divorced people allowing them to remarry. The Jesus guy forbids divorce and says men who remarry are 'whore mongers'. It is typical that she never thought about her 'faith' when licensing them, against the teachings of her faith.
She's just a hate bag with a huge ego.

Leviticus says "No wearing clothes of more than one thread" now! Or how about if they refused to pay her during her menses, because, according to Leviticus, she's unclean and no one should have any contact with her!

When your crazy religion gets in the way....get out of the way. God...these nutballs are starting to make the Islamic radicals look sane.

Good luck with your search for employment.

As a condition of her employment. Sadly, this person has probably been recruited by an outside group and has been duped by this group. The outside group will not be hurt by her losing her job, as she surely will, but Belfori sure will be.

If she cannot do her job, then she should get another one.

Does her religion want her to continue to work for an institution that wants her to, and does in fact, sign same sex marriage licenses... I mean if religious beliefs are so important to her.


I call Christian Martyr bullshit!

You don't have to get the license where either spouse lives or where the ceremony will be.

http://www.health.state.ny.us/vital_records/married.htm

So bigoted clerks aren't actually an impediment.

They'll fire her or ask her to resign, she'll go to some organization's lawyers and sue for discrimination. Yada, yada, yada...N.Y. Supreme Court, who will have to rule the law Constitutional because it's a civil rights law, so therefore she'll lose if she refuses to do her job.

Last weekend I attended the wedding of a same sex couple who were married by a Baptist minister. Who said she had to "set some people straight" (no pun intended?) when they questioned her about the "morality" of performing the service. It was a wonderful ceremony, full of love and joy and tears and laughter. I just do not understand the bigotry, I really don't.

There is no room for prejudice in state offices anywhere!

But she'll probably keep the pension. If the pension is for work she has already done, I'm pretty sure they would get sued and lose. She has made her statement and surely she realized the risk. They'll find someone else without these qualms.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Otherwise, seek change on your own time rather than on the job. I'm guess that Belforti may find a good job with the National Organization for Marriage or doing commentary on Fox News.

have been posted since Feb. Anybody from DU interested in a job?

Contact information on the web site.
http://co.cayuga.ny.us/ledyard/

nt

People that refuse to do their jobs because of their religion should find other work. Fire her. Fire her and every bigot that refuses to sign marriage licenses. Fire every right wing or christian asshole pharmacist that refuses to fill birth control prescriptions.

There's a lot of us out of work that would be happy to do those jobs and not discriminate against people at the same time.

Rp

I'm assuming she's circulating resumes now.

They'll probably throw free speech in there, too.

Sadly, this may end up under a "reasonable accommodation" analysis because of the claim of religious beliefs.

Even under a reasonable accommodation analysis, she should lose though.

If she refuses, then she should be terminated for cause.