Rose Marie Belforti, Town Clerk, Has Conservatives Rallying Around Her Over Same-Sex Marriage

By SCOTT RAPP
Religion News Service

LEDYARD, N.Y. (RNS) A conservative Christian group is behind a new YouTube video that features a town clerk explaining why she believes she should not have to comply with a state law and issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Ledyard Town Clerk Rose Marie Belforti's position has drawn heavy criticism, a possible lawsuit and an opponent to her re election bid.

"I am a Christian. The Bible tells me that marriage is between a man and a woman so I don't feel I can endorse the new (state) law. I don't feel it is right," Belforti says on the video.

The Courage Fund, an offshoot of the Christian lobbying group, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, produced the video, according to Jason McGuire, executive director of the state lobbying organization. His group represents about 5,000 evangelical churches in the state and opposes New York's same-sex marriage law.

"We wanted to raise awareness about what's going on, and we wanted to let the clerks tell their stories in their own words," McGuire said.

Belforti told town officials that she would not grant same-sex marriage licenses because of her religious beliefs. The town has since assigned that duty to a deputy clerk.

A lesbian couple from Florida who own a house in the area are threatening to sue after they tried to get a marriage license from
Belforti and were told to come back another time.

Belforti's Republican primary challenger, Ed Easter, believes Belforti should follow the law or resign from office.

"I think the citizens of Ledyard pay their taxes and expect ...their officials to do their jobs," Easter said. "You have a right to your religion but it doesn't say she gets to do what she wants to do."

(Scott Rapp writes for The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.)

Comments

[NYLSBlog]

11:31 PM on 11/06/2011

Find out the validity of this case on LASIS:

http://www.lasisblog.com/2011/10/31/a-guilty-conscience/

[Mike Sivak]

10:44 PM on 10/21/2011

You work for the government not a church.

[Counter Sniper]

01:58 AM on 10/18/2011

This lady should be fired.

Do your job or else.

Keep your stinking religion out of my government.

[Mychaeltodd Robinson]

06:58 PM on 10/20/2011

I agree, fire her.

[Revolutionary Bum]

12:37 AM on 10/18/2011

God isn't real but the turned away couples love is.

[Revolutionary Bum]

12:35 AM on 10/18/2011

Christians believe in that book "The Bible" which states to follow the law of the land. Like its wrong to drive 70 in Ohio but not in West Virgina. So she should be fine with allowing the marriages. End of the day her god isn't real.

[dannywanny]

10:42 PM on 10/17/2011

Conservatives have traditionally opposed any changes that conflict with their personal ideology. If your personal beliefs conflict with the performance of your job, it's time to look for another job.

Conservatives opposed feminists who marched for equal pay, equal opportunity and equal rights for women in the 70s. They successfully waged a scare campaign to ensure that something as simple as a constitutional amendment to ensure equal rights for women would fail.

Conservatives crowded around elementary school entrances in the early 60s, when the first black children were allowed to be enrolled by court order. They yelled obscenities, threw eggs and tomatoes at the black children who were brave enough to enter.

Conservatives opposed an end to segregation in the military in the 40s and 50s.

Conservatives opposed Medicare and Medicaid in the sixties, the Social Security and unemployment programs and the WPA, which created highways, bridges, post offices, schools and other public works still in use today. Conservatives opposed the program which created enduring works of art, music and literature in the US.

Conservatives opposed suffragettes who marched for the right to vote in the first part of the 20th century. They yelled epithets and pelted the women with eggs and rotten tomatoes.

Conservatives haven't changed in a hundred years. They learn nothing from history.

[ELijoi]

04:57 PM on 10/17/2011

While I would never say that people who believe in god are by default stupid, a belief in god is a red flag that makes me question that person's critically thinking skills, their ability to make rational decisions, and whether I should value their opinion.

The willingness and willfulness to put aside reason for the sake of a belief, especially one so extraordinary and contradictory to anything observable, is quite frankly, horrifying.

People throw around the word 'faith' like its a good thing. As if they are somehow better for having it.

They aren't. It's a tragic flaw. It is a dangerous weapon of denial. Because if they can set aside this measurable, observable, testable universe enough for their 'faith', if they can rationalize the cognitive dissonance, then there is no limit to what unspeakable acts they could bend their reality to justify.

This woman is doing just that. She is acting out on her bigotry and using her "faith" to rationalize it.

[dannywanny]

10:43 PM on 10/17/2011

Thank you. Fanned and faved.

[PeterinSydney]

07:44 AM on 10/17/2011

This silly old girl has wanted to have her five minutes of fame, out of a very very mistaken view of right and wrong. She needs to learn what freedom means for every one, not just for her.

[Alyse73]

01:01 AM on 10/17/2011

Then she should quit. Same as pharmacist that do not want to give the Plan B pill or birth control

[PrunellaC]

09:36 PM on 10/16/2011

“I’m not supposed to have to leave my beliefs at the door at my government job.”

Not at all, nor is anyone asserting so. She can believe whatever she wants. Her actions, not beliefs are the root problem here.

[dannywanny]

10:47 PM on 10/17/2011

She is unable to understand the difference. Her ideology blinds her to reason.

Fanned and faved.

[Brad Blumenstock]

01:48 PM on 10/17/2011

Does spreading hatred of others make you feel better about what happened to you in the past?

[ELijoi]

04:56 PM on 10/17/2011

This poor damaged mess... the problem isn't that he was raped... the problem is... he liked it.

[Jason N]

02:29 PM on 10/17/2011

Oh god, you're here hawking your book again? Flagged for spam.

[BlueHorde]

08:10 PM on 10/16/2011

If I'm a Wahhabi Moslem working for the BMV, can I refuse to issue driver's licenses to women?

Oh ... by the way Rose Marie, the Bible also describes marriage as between a man and his slave, a man and his brother's widow, a man and the child of his dead defeated enemy, a man and his rape victim, and of course, as a man and all of the above at the same time - most of the time without the woman's, or girl's, consent. The Bible never ever describes marriage as between a man and only, exclusively, one woman.

[dannywanny]

10:54 PM on 10/17/2011

Thanks for drawing attention to those often-ignored facts. I doubt that it will have any effect on conservatives. Their belief system is rigid. Fanned and faved for trying.

[Bob Wood]

07:42 PM on 10/16/2011

Ancient mythology and superstition should absolutely determine whether someone should do the job they were hired to do. If the perfomance of the job conflicts with the mythology and superstition...then plainly...one should not have to do the job. Really ? This is what the supporters of Rose Marie Belforti are saying. Really ? This is silly. The law allows same=sex marriage in New York. The town clerks job is to issue marriage licenses. The town clerks job doesn't include deciding who she issues the license to.
Either do the job...or quit. This doesn't even deserve discussion. The law is the law...(sigh)

[PrunellaC]

07:41 PM on 10/16/2011

"The Bible tells me that marriage is between a man and a woman so I don't feel I can endorse the new (state) law. I don't feel it is right,"

Honey, you don't "have to." If the job contains an element or policy or clientele that you object to, the only course of action that allows you to retain a degree of personal integrity is to quit. Find some other job. Otherwise, suck it up. At work no one cares about your religious convictions.

[Hillbilly49]

04:15 PM on 10/16/2011

Since when did clerks make policy in America; if the clerk can not do the job, hire another.