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10/31/2011
Belforti and willing allies continue to feign ignorance towards obvious
Check out these quotes from Rose Marie Belforti, the NY town clerk who wishes to refuse civil marriage licenses to gay couples. I'll meet you on the other side when you're done:
"It is a very small place, so, no, I never thought this would happen," Belforti told CBN News. "I just figured everybody would be okay with it because it is not much different than when you go into the DMV."
"There are several clerks there and someone is going to serve you," she continued. "You don't go in there and say, 'I want that person to serve me.' And that is really what they are doing here. They are trying to micro-manage my office."
"My office is the office of the town clerk and that means many people may be working there," Belforti said.
"We all have different duties. So, what does it matter who does your marriage license, so long as you get it done. I don't see what the point is," she said.
New York Clerk Under Fire for Gay Marriage Stance [CBN]
Okay, hi. So let's compare what Ms. Belforti is saying here versus what she's actually doing to put her (and her town's) name in the headlines.
(1) "It's a very small place": This is completely irrelevant. Whether the town is ten people or ten million doesn't matter. And it's pretty galling for Ms. Belforti to act like she's confused by her small town's undue attention, considering she is the one courting this attention via groups like NOM and the New Yorker's Family Research Foundation.
(2) "I figured everybody would be okay with it": What Ms. Belforti figured would happen is of no relevance. Of course she figured she'd get away with this, or she presumably wouldn't have done it. But presumption doesn't equal merit.
(3) "Someone is going to serve you": In what kind of job is this acceptable rationale? At best, it's laziness. But in this case, it's worse than that. In Ms. Belforti's case, the desire to take a break at certain times while on the tax-supported clock is a self-adjudication of who is and is not fit for a certain civil license. Tax-paying citizens should not have to clerk shop for one willing to act in accordance with state law!
(4) "Micro-manage my office": The office is NOT MS. BELFORTI'S! For now, she holds the role, but the office belongs to the town. To the state. Its people. Oh, and the laws that govern all!
(5) "What does is matter who does your marriage license?": Well it matters quite a bit to that couple who enters an office, so excited and starry eyed, only to have the clerk before them cast an obvious judgement against them. This may not always happen. Sometimes it might be subtle. But the special right that Ms. Belforti is seeking would set a dangerous precedent that would make for some nasty confrontations. Anyone who is honest about this situation will understand that.
(6) "I don't see what the point is": If Ms. Belforti doesn't see the point here, then I seriously question her ability to perform this job. And I don't even mean that as an equality activist who has any stake in this: I mean it as a New York citizen who follows the laws of my state and who expects the state's employees to do the same. The point is that there are responsibilities to any office -- responsibilities that must be carried out competently and fairly to ensure the well-being of the community.
In this case, Ms. Belforti wants a special exception, even as she sidles up next to the same movement that causes LGBT people of seeking "special rights." She is wrong. But even worse are those like NOM, who have to understand why she is wrong, but who instead want to score cheap political points.
*I also want to add, on a personal note: My husband and I got our license in a very small town hall in Connecticut. Had our clerk, who was lovely, been against us, it would have been glaringly obvious. There would've been no possible way to hide, even if there were several other staff members on hand. We would've noticed, as would've my now-in-laws who were crammed in the small room with us. And it would have been deeply upsetting.
So in that regard, the "it's a very small place" line actually weakens Ms. Belforti's case.
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