Barker, N.Y. Town Clerk Quits her Job Rather Than Sign Marriage Licenses For Gay Couples

[brooklynite]

Source: NY Daily News

Laura Fotusky, the town clerk of tiny Barker, N.Y., has quit her job in protest of the state’s legalization of gay marriage.

Fotusky, a Republican, submitted her resignation to the Town Board on Monday. A copy of her statement was posted on the anti-gay-marriage website New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.

Fotusky appears to be the first municipal official in New York to resign rather than sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

“There was no protection provided in the legislation for Town Clerks who are unable to sign these marriage licenses due to personal religious convictions, even though our US Constitution supports freedom of religion.,” Fotusky wrote in her resignation letter.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/07/barker-ny-town-clerk-quits-her-job-rather-than-sign-marriage-licenses-for-gay-

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Gee, you'd think the Government would find a way to protect Government Officials who don't want to follow Government laws...

[DURHAM D]

1. good

[RKP5637]

2. Good, the dinosaur needed to go. Good riddance. n/t

[izquierdista]

3. I'll agree with her....

...as soon as she accepts my religious freedom to conduct the Anointing with Feces sacrament in her house.

[chervilant]

50. hmm...

Is that the one involving a brown paper sack, the doorbell, and flammage?

[queerart]

70. You Made My Day......

That was indeed funny........

[Ineeda]

4. Laura was free to do her job according to the law or to quit

and she chose to quit. Now someone else can do the job. Buh, bye Laura. Maybe your church will give you a comparable paycheck.

[closeupready]

5. Fine with me. Later.

K&R

[MADem]

6. There are two wonderful results to this.....

First, she QUIT--'No unemployment for YOU, Missy!!!!'

Second, there's a job opening at the clerk's office!

My religion (The Church of The Fluffy Pillow) proscribed me from working on weekend mornings. That said, when duty called, I got over that item of my faith, and went to work--religion be damned!

[Flying Dream Blues]

7. To Ms. Fortusky: Freedom to keep your religion out of our government.

Seems like a win/win to me. Sorry you didn't feel your bigotry was protected enough so that your drama queen self could make of point of being hateful to people while doing your job. Enjoy your freedom, which I will still defend, as much as your beliefs make me (and, I'm guessing, Jesus) sick.

[pennylane100]

8. Maybe she will get hired by the Bachmann campaign.

[Mz Pip]

44. She can apply for a position

at their "mental health" center and earn big bucks praying away the gay. Seriously, I see a future for her making the rounds on Fox and going on tour with Michele Bachmann.

This sounds like a big publicity stunt IMHO - another "victim" of liberal politics auditioning for the next 15 minutes of fame for doing her part in standing up for bigotry and intolerance.

[Zephie]

9. kthxbai!

[TheDebbieDee]

10. Bye, 8itch! Don't let the door hit you and all that!

[Downwinder]

11. What does the job pay? Is it elective or appointed?

[MineralMan]

12. Cool! When's the retirement party?

Fotusky You, Madame Clerk!

[slackmaster]

13. OK!

[JAnthony]

14. Tiny Barker, NY Population 538 people How many ????

This town is about as far NORTH in NY state that you can go without falling into the Great Lake Ontario

In a small town of 538, just how many people get married every year?

Would gay people choose to marry in that town? Maybe once in every how many years?

Is she afraid gay couples will swim 70 miles across Lake Ontario from Canada, where they could marry legally all along, and choose to marry in a rural farm town of 500 instead of Toronto?


These rabidly religious right wingers never seem to have any common sense or logic to their fears of gay marriage. She probably issues 10 licenses a year, and all she has to do is sign a freaking piece of paper, she DOESN'T need to have sex with both of the couple before she signs the form!!!!

And the New York Daily News, (right wing sensationalist news owned by ??) never bother with the facts of the size of the town!!!

[brendan120678]

64. There are multiple Barkers in NY.

The one where this took place is in Broome County (Binghamton).
The one you are referring to is actually a village in the Town of Somerset.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Her freedom of religion does not give her the authority to deny other peoples' rights

that her religion disagrees with.

[No Elephants]

66. Actually, it does, just not in her {blessedly former} capacity as an agent of the town.

[MsPithy]

16. How dare the Constitution not protect her right to discriminate!

What the hell is wrong with these people?

[No Elephants]

67. Actually, it does. It just doesn't give government a right to discriminate.

Having resigned as an agent of government, she is now free to be as bigoted as she claims Jesus wants her to be.

[gratuitous]

17. Don't go away mad, Ms. Fotusky

Just . . . well, you know.

[mikeytherat]

23. Perhaps we should e-mail her some "fundy mind teasers" such as:

"You know what's funny? Paintings of Adam and Eve where they both have belly buttons. Think about that. Take as much time as you need."

mikey_the_rat

[rurallib]

29. !!!! LOL !!!

[No Elephants]

68. Or Adam with all his ribs? (Mmmm. Ribs)

[alcibiades_mystery]

57. ROFL

:thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_8c4iCWUh0

[WatsonT]

72. So she should try to be gayer?

[Retrograde]

18. Since when do civil servants get to ignore laws they don't like?

How do I get a job that lets me pick and choose what parts to do?

[Tesha]

25. Just apply to the Bartleby Scrivener Office Temps agency. (NT)

[Auntie Bush]

51. She can't pick and choose...so she quit. Good riddance to rubbish. nt!

[KurtNYC]

81. It is very difficult these days to get a job that doesn't violate Leviticus

McDonald's ? cheese with meat !
Red Lobster ? shellfish !!
etc.

[libmom74]

19. Good. Now someone that needs a job who

isn't a self righteous bigot can get hired there.

[redwitch]

36. 'Zactly!

Bye bye

[No Elephants]

69. See? And we thought Republicans were incapable of creating any jobs.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. Perfect!

An added and unsuspected bonus to the new law. :D

I hope she finds herself a job that doesn't expect her to uphold the law. Perhaps she could look into interning for a local Republican or something?

[onehandle]

21. Intolerance is not a religion, nor is intolerance Constitutional. nt

[louslobbs]

22. Good, now she can crawl back under her rock with her bigotry and hatred and alleged religious

convictions. Just another sociopath who decent people will no longer have to be judged by according to her alleged religious beliefs. I suggest she send her resume out to the Heritage Foundation, Focus on the Family, the Koch brothers, the Westboro Baptist Klan or any teabagger organization hiring those of her ilk, that way she can freely be the bigot and hater among friends with like minds and not have to worry about government laws that do not recognize her fanatical religious convictions in a government work place. Since you couldn't Separate your church from the state Fotusky, you separated your bigoted, hating self from your job and we thank you very very very much.......it's the nicest thing that anyones ever done for Barker, NY....but things the way they are, finding a new job will be hard, so you just might have regrets if you can't pay your bills or when your hungry........thank you very very very much! I'm not a praying man, but I will say one for you........dear lord, help Laura from the bondage of hatred and bigotry and watch over her as her savings are depleted and she can't find a job. And lord, I don't want to be disrespectful, but if she's following your word according to the Bible, then are you as hateful and bigoted and vengeful as her? I've never heard you speak to me directly like you do with George Bush, Michelle Bachmann or Joe the fraudulent plumber, so if you have an answer for me, maybe you can contact one of your regulars like them and they can contact me and tell me what your answer was to my question. Amen
Lou

[yellowcanine]

24. Don't let the door smack your fat ass on the way out.

[Betty]

26. I hope she's not expecting to collect unemployment

Because that's socialism, which I am sure Jesus also told her to hate.

[glinda]

27. don't let the door.....

[eilen]

28. Ta Ta Bigot!

go back under your rock.

[Chipper Chat]

30. She was told by Marcus Bachmann that you can easily catch "teh gay"

by signing a marriage license for two men or two women. Why should she risk her life when she can just go down the street and start work at Walmart selling guns?

[rurallib]

31. some town in Uganda is probably looking for a town clerk

I think they share her views.

[Unvanguard]

32. Good. If you don't want to do your job, you should resign. n/t

[plumbob]

33. She did the right thing by quitting. If her personal beliefs didn't allow

her to do the job, she needed to quit. She did. I disagree with her belief, but quitting is the right action in the face of it.

[BR_Parkway]

73. No, it's a selective "I'm being persecuted" - her religion calls those who

divorce and remarry "Adulterers" - Jesus said it himself in the red letter edition. Have seen no reports on how many licenses she refused to issue to anyone who'd been divorced.

This is simply homophobic bigotry, with religion used to make it look noble somehow.

[plumbob]

76. I don't care what the internal beliefs of her group are. The external

action she took is correct; never referred to it as noble. It was the right thing.

Or would you rather she have gotten an attorney and tied up everyone's time and money in court to get the same result?

She can be a bigot, but she can't let it affect her job performance. It would have, so she quit. Good.

[BR_Parkway]

82. I'm 99% certain there will be a lawsuit - financed by NOM - don't forget

that little poison pill provision in the law - if any part fails, it all fails - the anti-gay industry will keep filing lawsuits in hope that they can bring it down.

I'm glad she quit, never meant to imply otherwise. Just wanted to point out the hypocrisy of her selective picking and choosing - not that there's anything surprising in that with these KKKristianists

[Frisbee]

34. She was just looking for her 15 minutes of fame...

she found it and now her newly unemployed ass can crawl back under the rock it came out from under. Barker, NY is better off without her.

[sulphurdunn]

35. My personal religious convictions

require that the NFL throw Christians to lions every NFL Game Day during halftime. I am proscribed from compelling the NFL to do this even though the US Constitution providers for religious freedom. The NFL told me if I didn't like their halftime shows I could sell my season tickets and go buy a lion or a Christian or both becasue season tickets are veeery expensive and are in bigger demand than either Christians or lions.:eyes:

[Chan790]

60. "are in bigger demand than either Christians or Lions."

Unless they're season tickets for the Lions. They stink.

[sulphurdunn]

63. I forgot they were still an NFL team.

[JDPriestly]

37. Good. The country clerk is supposed to obey the law, not write the law.

She is free to express her opinion. She is also free to quit her job over any issue that she chooses. If she thinks the counter in her office is too high or her boss is too fat, she can quit her job. No problem. Why is this the subject of a news article? What's new?

[KamaAina]

38. Was there some huge influx of same-sex couples into Barker, N.Y. (pop. 2,738)?

If not, why quit? Why not wait until Mrs. and Mrs. Right actually show up?

Aside: The town's other claim to, er, notoriety is as a vicious speed trap on the way from NYC to Ithaca (home of Cornell). :eyes:

[2Design]

39. Good one job opening for a gay person or a progressive - goodbye igit

[marions ghost]

40. page not found

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[rpannier]

41. Get your resumes in people. A job has just opened up

Ms. Fotusky will probably be working for Ficus of the Family fairly soon

[ljm2002]

42. Good for her...

...now the job will go to someone more deserving.

[lunatica]

43. Well what can I say. Good.

[ladywnch]

45. good riddance! one less rethug in office. n/t

[bongbong]

46. News

Reportedly, she hated signing the certificates of mixed-race marriages too. Her only comment on the matter was some swear word-filled diatribe about "uppity people who don't know their place".

[Cereal Kyller]

47. Odd

I didn't know Michele Bachmann had relatives in New York.

[LarryNM]

48. These Bigots and Bullies Wouldn't Even Be Noticed

if they weren't hypocritically whining about their "religious freedoms".

[4dsc]

49. Good

don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way out.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

52. I resepct this and wish more would follow that example

She could not follow the law so rather than violate it, she left office. Now if only the rest of the embedded zealots would do the same.

[bitchkitty]

53. Good - give the job to a gay person. n/t

[indepat]

54. Hope the door didn't slam Ms. Fotusky squarely in the ass as she left:

it's so easy to despise bigots who espouse religious convictions that would deny others their constitutional rights and protections. :patriot:

[BigDemVoter]

55. Good-Fucking-Riddance

[alcibiades_mystery]

56. Your functional responsibilities as Town Clerk have nothing to do with your personal beliefs

Good luck finding another job in the Boehner economy.

:rofl:

[Thor_MN]

58. I have to say, good for her!!

for recognizing her hate and intolerance were incompatible with working in a public records office. Her voluntary termination of employment saves on unemployment and the costs of terminating her for cause. I say, give her a glowing reference, noting her hate and intolerance. Maybe she can find employment in a regressive church office somewhere.

[StarsInHerHair]

59. good riddance

[FourScore]

61. don't let the door...well, come to think of it, go ahead and let the door hit ya! n/t

[JoeyT]

62. And nothing of value was lost. n/t

[No Elephants]

65. Sorry, Laura. There's no Constitutional right to discriminate if you work for government.

See ya; wouldn't want to be ya.

When was the last time Barker had a gay pride parade? I bet they're overdue.

[WatsonT]

71. Seems fine to me

she had an ethical concern about what her job entailed. Rather than sue she quit and will I guess find a job more fitting with her views.

[buckrogers1965]

74. Probably fired.

Because she refused to perform her required job. They let people at this level "resign to pursue personal goals" rather than fire them outright.

[brooklynite]

75. Technically no...

...because the law hasn't taken effect yet. I'm certain she was informed that if she did refuse to obey the law, her tenure would be measurably brief.

[AngryAmish]

77. THis is exactly why we have ledgislatures that make laws

The will of the people of NY was that gay folks should be able to get married if they choose to do so. She is a public servant. If she dies not want to serve the public then she can go find another job.

on edit:

Imagine that some Whahabbi paramedic said he could not treat a woman. He'd be told to do his job or get going.

[we can do it]

78. buh bye asshole

good freaking riddence

[alp227]

79. the anti-gay industry has plenty of employment for people like her n/t

[kick-ass-bob]

80. Hope she didn't have to sign a warrant for a killer who might be put to death.

Thou shalt not kill and all.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

83. I had a clerk refuse a registration for a common law marriage for me.

This was in Texas in San Antonio (Bexar County) 1979. You can go to the county clerk and register a common-law marriage.

I am female and refused to change my name.

The man tore up three forms before he stopped trying.

I asked him, "Please tell me where it says in the Texas Family Code that the woman has to change her name."

He could not answer me, because there is no such provision.

The county clerk committed a misdemeanor by refusing to carry out his official duties. I could have filed charges against him but I didn't.

We went to a J.P. and got married the usual way.