Lawyers question legality of closing chapels

Clerks of court closed courthouse chapels in Duval, Clay, Baker counties

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Same-sex couples flocked to courthouses across Florida this week for marriage licenses, as a judge's ruling against the state's same-sex marriage ban went into effect.

But the clerks of court in Duval, Clay and Baker counties have closed their courthouse chapels, and local attorneys are questioning whether they were within their legal jurisdiction to do so.

Protestors stood outside the Duval County courthouse Tuesday holding signs calling for Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell to resign. Fussell ordered the closing of the courthouse chapel to all couples on the heels of the legalization of gay marriage in the state.

Carrington Mead, a local LGBT civil rights lawyer, said Jacksonville has seen this type of behavior before.

"It's just like back in the '60s when they were desegregating areas and a lot of Jacksonville included. They emptied the pools because the white people didn't want to swim with the black people," Mead said. "And so, it's obstructionism, because you're trying to discriminate against one person, that's an act of discrimination in itself, regardless of how you paint it."

In Duval County, 68 marriage licenses were issued Tuesday, the majority to same-sex couples. Only three of those couples were able to wed inside the courthouse, thanks to a judge (pictured above) who said the courthouse is open to the public, which includes same-sex couples looking to get married.

St. Johns County issued 16 same-sex and eight heterosexual marriage licenses; Clay County issued seven same-sex and two heterosexual licenses; and Nassau County issued two same-sex and three heterosexual marriage licenses on Tuesday.

"I think people understand love," Mead said. "There's a lot of people who say they don't believe in same-sex marriage, but when they find out the prohibitions that result from it, they say, 'I don't think that's right.'"

Mead said if Fussell doesn't have a change of heart and reopen the courthouse chapel, she and and other local attorneys will pursue a legal avenue in hopes to overturn his decision.

Betsy White, another local attorney, sent a letter to Fussell, saying, "We are open to working out some arrangement with you that will continue courthouse marriage. … We would rather work something out harmoniously in everyone's interest than look to the courts for a resolution."

The letter also said if the Clerk of Courts Office does not respond by the end of Jan. 9, the lawyers will assume Fussell prefers to litigate the issue.

Mead said Fussell is up for re-election in 2016 and promised this issue will not be swept under the rug.

"I can honestly say my people will not be forgetting this and will be more than happy to remind people," Mead said.