Kathy Schwab Wants To Be A "Straights Only" Marriage Licensor

The other day I was talking to my boss and told him that there are parts of the job that I don’t like; and parts that I like a lot. And so, I asked if there was a way I could just do part of my job and then skip others.

He fired me. Okay, so I kid about that last part, but doesn’t that seem like a ridiculous thing to do, requesting to be allowed to stop performing certain parts of your job?

Then please to explain about these court clerks, county clerks, deputy clerks, mall clerks … okay, maybe not mall clerks … who are saying that, in light of that pesky marriage equality ruling by SCOTUS, they only want to do part of the job for which they were hired and paid, and still collect the same amount of money.

Sure, some people aren’t playing, like Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, who told his clerks to follow the law or quit, while others, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott had his attorney general encourage the state's clerks to assert their "religious freedom" rights and refuse.

What to do? Well, not this …up in North Dakota they’ve opted for a “separate but equal” choice, where some clerks will help gays and some won’t because God.

In North Dakota, the job of issuing marriage licenses belongs to elected … by the people, all of the people … county recorders, and in Stark County that person is one Kathy Schwab.

Now, Kathy don’t like the idea of giving out gay marriage licenses so she has asked Stark County State's Attorney, Tom Henning, to allow her to appoint a Gay Marriage License Person who will assist The Gays.

Yeah, they have to have a separate person give out licenses to same-sex couples because Kathy Schwab’s religious beliefs apparently supersede the laws of the state and the job for which she is paid.

And that’s what happened. The Stark County Commission voted to allow the deputy recorder, Kim Kaslan, to be the Gay Marriage License source in Stark County, which means that Kathy Schwab will be working less amend still earning the same pay, while Kim Kaslan will do more work — licensing all couples and same-sex couples — and not being paid more.

Note to North Dakota: vote Kathy Schwab out of her job because she refuses to work for all of the people of your state because, when Kathy Schwab took office she took this oath as well:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of North Dakota, and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of County Recorder to the best of my ability, so help me God."

I guess the part that said she doesn’t have to uphold the US Constitution if she thinks the Baby Jeebus won’t like it was left out of her oath.

I cannot help but think this is akin to separate drinking fountains — one for whites, one for blacks — or separate places to sit on the bus, or in the movie theaters or the lunch counters. I mean, the water in the drinking fountain is all the same, right, so who gets hurt saying blacks cannot use the white faucet? And who gets hurt saying the blacks cannot sit anywhere on the bus? Who gets hurt saying The Gays have to wait for their special license source before they can get a marriage license?

It hurts all of us because it’s separate but equal and if we don’t know by now that that doesn’t work, Goddess help us all.

NCRM