RFP Staff
♦ North Carolina magistrates may recuse themselves from marriages if religious beliefs prevent them from being able to perform any marriages. No questions asked. Magistrates can also recuse for interracial objections, persons previously divorced, couples of different faiths, immigration status, etc.
According to SB 2 Magistrates would be exempt from all marriage duties for 6 months. Renewable. Vote occurred at 10:12 a.m. Representatives, from the Rowan County “local delegation”, Carl Ford R-76 and Harry Warren R-77 voted for the override. Passing SB 2 in the N.C. Senate were Rowan local delegation Senators Andrew Brock R-34 and Tom McInnis R-25.
This bill is extremely unpopular with the LGBT community and is quite popular among Fundamentalist Christians in Bible Belt North Carolina. Most political observers believe SB 2 will face a court battle.
SB 2:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=s+2
