Most people know D. Bruce Hanes as the county official that issued the first same-sex marriage licenses in Pennsylvania in July 2013.
Hanes, a Democrat, is seeking a third term in the Nov. 3 election as register of wills and clerk of the orphans court in Montgomery County. His challenger, Republican Sharon Valentine-Thomas, mayor of Pottstown, told The Intelligencer Oct. 15 that her “conscience will not allow me to sign off on marriage certificates for gay couples.”
Clerks serve four-year terms and earn $81,560 a year.
An ordained minister, Valentine-Thomas told The Intelligencer, “people should not have to violate their conscience to run or to serve.”
She said she would seek state or federal court approval to provide her with the same “accommodations” as Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail for five days for refusing to authorize same-sex marriage licenses. Valentine-Thomas added that she does not consider herself “an obstructionist” and would not interfere with deputy clerks who could authorize the licenses.
“You’d better be clear who you’re going to get [the exemption] from and what exactly it would say,” Hanes, a lawyer by trade, told PGN.
“It’s really unfortunate that a person running to be the register of wills in Montgomery County would want to head the office and send it backward two or three years,” he said.
Valentine-Thomas did not respond to a request for comment.
Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, released a statement calling it “deeply unfair to use discriminatory practices in providing government services.”
“Creating specific accommodation for which laws government officials should follow and which they can disobey will open a can of worms that could result in legal chaos,” Martin continued.
“If Sharon Valentine-Thomas does not want to do what her job would require under the law, she should consider doing something else.”