Candidate for register won’t sign same-sex marriage docs
NORRISTOWN (AP) – An ordained minister running for register of wills in eastern Pennsylvania says she won’t sign-off on same-sex marriage certificates, but won’t obstruct couples from getting the documents.
Sharon Valentine-Thomas, currently the mayor of Pottstown, is the Republican challenger to D. Bruce Haines, the Democrat incumbent register of wills in Montgomery County.
Haines made headlines by granting same-sex marriage licenses before it was legal in Pennsylvania.
Valentine-Thomas says her conscience will not allow her to sign such documents but says, “I am not an obstructionist and will not force my values on others.”
Instead, if elected she plans to seek court approval to accommodate her beliefs by having her deputies sign such documents.
She says Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for five days for refusing to issue the licenses, has a similar accommodation.