02/05/2007
California County Clerk Protests Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Now here's an Evangelical we can be proud of. Freddie Oakley, a California County Clerk who also happens to be a heterosexual Evangelical Christian mother, finds it painful to deny marriage certificates to same-sex couples, and has announced that on this Valentine's Day she's going to present them with "Certificates of Inequality" as a personal protest against California's ban on gay marriage.
Oakley is an elected official in charge of issuing marriage certificates in Yolo County which includes the cities of Woodland, Davis, Winters, and West Sacramento.
Said Oakley of denying same-sex couples the right to marry: "It is a very unpleasant task and it gets harder every time I have to do it...What it essentially says it the law says you can't get married. But I, Freddie Oakley, say 'that's too bad'."
Of her evangelical Christian background, she says: "I don't think that religion belongs at the office. I think it's wrong. I don't go down and tell my pastor how to preach and I don't want him to stand behind my counter....I think [taking a stand] absolutely is [the place of a puclic official]. In fact, I think it's our duty. We don't just enforce laws, we're policy makers. If I'm comfortable in my morale [sic] heart that I'm doing the right thing, then let the chips fall where they may."
Kudos to Oakley for going out of her way to make a difference and realizing that personal expressions of faith are just that - personal.
Yolo County Clerk Protests Calif. Gay Marriage Law [cbs13]
Posted 9:50 AM EST by Andy Towle in California, Gay Marriage, News | Permalink
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You mean that there's a public official in this country who understands the difference between official duties and personal, religious belief? What a concept!
What a gal!
Posted by: sam | Feb 5, 2007 10:24:03 AM
I'm so excited about this story. It's nice to be gay and Christian and here this story. I know there is a lot that's not right in America but I think sometimes we forget the good people and what is right in this country.
Posted by: Matt | Feb 5, 2007 10:32:50 AM
You Go Girl!
Posted by: vince | Feb 5, 2007 10:33:53 AM
Heroes exist in places you least expect. Thanks for sharing this!
Posted by: Da | Feb 5, 2007 11:36:09 AM
Is there a way to send her a Thank You email? She's going to get an awful lot of pressure from the political christians for doing this; she should get some thank you's, too. :)
Posted by: Paul | Feb 5, 2007 11:37:54 AM
She's sweet and will probably get into some kind of trouble.
Posted by: anon | Feb 5, 2007 11:53:09 AM
YOLO COUNTY PRIDE!!!
Posted by: Patch Rock | Feb 5, 2007 12:28:55 PM
If personal expressions of faith are personal, and she (rightly) keeps her religious beliefs out of her job, shouldn't she keep her other beliefs out of her job as well? "Beneficial" double standards are still double standards, and still wrong, no?
Posted by: Scott | Feb 5, 2007 1:17:03 PM
Yeah, we should send her our support. I'm sure she's going get a lot of flak & unpleasantly from the right-wing religio-fascists.
Posted by: just sayin' | Feb 5, 2007 1:50:54 PM
sorry, "unpleasantness".
Posted by: just sayin' | Feb 5, 2007 2:05:16 PM
I wish Christians of conscience like her would join a national movement to take back Christianity from the bigots.
Posted by: mark m | Feb 5, 2007 3:38:37 PM
Her email address is freddie.oakley@yolocounty.org. I just sent her a quick thank you -- what a gal!
Posted by: Michael | Feb 5, 2007 3:45:12 PM
I never thought I'd write this, but "God bless that Evangelical" lol. I wish there were more intelligent, compassionate and rational people such as Freddie Oakley.
Posted by: Cory | Feb 5, 2007 5:46:14 PM