Sally Kern Bill That Punishes Clerks Who Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples Advances

By Carlos Santoscoy
Published: February 19, 2015

A bill which seeks to punish clerks who issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples cleared an Oklahoma House committee on Tuesday.

State Rep. Sally Kern, a Republican, introduced her “Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act” last month.

Gay couples started marrying in the state after the Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court's ruling declaring unconstitutional a 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. More than 3,200 such licenses have been issued since the high court's October 6 ruling.

(Related: More than 3,200 gay couples marry in Oklahoma.)

Kern's proposal (House Bill 1599) seeks to cut off government funding for the licensing or support of marriage equality and threatens state judges with dismissal if they do not dismiss any challenges to the act.

“No employee of this state and no employee of any local government entity shall officially recognize, grant or enforce a same-sex marriage license and continue to receive a salary, pension or other employee benefit at the expense of taxpayers of this state,” the bill states. “No taxes or public funds of this state shall be spent enforcing any court order requiring the issuance or recognition of a same-sex marriage license.”

The 68-year-old Kern made headlines for saying that “the homosexual agenda is a bigger threat than terrorism” at a 2008 gathering of Republicans.