We’ve received what appears to be good news about a Colorado County Clerk who had been resisting marriage equality by posting an antigay, religious sign at the clerk’s office. The poster shows a bride and a groom accompanied by a verse from the first Book of Corinthians reading, “…each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” Schroeder claimed that the sign merely celebrates marriage, but it turns out that he wrote an email, to other county clerks, admitting, “My thought process is that they have to see the poster. And if they choose to violate God’s written Word, then that is on their head.”
Last week we sent a letter to the county, pointing out that the clerk’s attempt to humiliate same-sex couples with this religious verse violated both the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Huffington Post reports that the antigay sign has now been removed from the County Clerk’s office.
This is a welcome development. But I continue to be amazed at the efforts, creative or otherwise, to defy the Supreme Court and obstruct marriage equality. Let’s say it again, all together now: under Obergefell, same-sex and different-sex couples must be allowed to get married “on the same terms and conditions.” And that means the government can’t treat same-sex couples or their marriages as second-class.
Greg Lipper (@theglipper) is Senior Litigation Counsel at Americans United.