Officials to issue marriage licenses regardless of beliefs

ASHEVILLE – Area register of deeds offices said officials would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples regardless of their own beliefs. "Same-sex marriages are against my Christian beliefs, but I have taken an oath, and I have to uphold my oath and do what the law tells me to do," Polk County Register of Deeds Sheila Whitmire said.
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A memo sent Friday by the NC Values Coalition, encouraging state officials with "sincere religious or moral beliefs" to refrain from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, went to register of deeds offices throughout the state following a court ruling that North Carolina's gay marriage ban was unconstitutional.

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