'I cannot put my signature on something that is against God,' Fotusky said. N.Y. clerk quits over gay marriage

A rural New York town clerk has resigned her post rather than grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“I would be compromising my moral conscience by participating in licensing same-sex couples,” Laura Fotusky, the clerk of the Town of Barker, told POLITICO. “I had to choose between my job and my god.”


Fotusky, a 56-year-old twice-elected Republican in the town of about 2,700 people about 10 miles north of Binghamton, posted her resignation letter to the Web site of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group that describes itself as “dedicated to influencing legislation and legislators for the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Fotusky, whose resignation is effective July 21, three days before legal gay marriage takes effect in New York, said she has no plans after she leaves her office, which paid $24,205 last year.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” she said. “I just knew that I needed to obey God.”

Fotusky follows in the footsteps of Barbara MacEwen, the town clerk in Volney, N.Y., who said last month she was determined not to grant any gay marriage licenses. MacEwen ultimately relented and said she would arrange for deputy clerks to sign the documents.

Fotusky quoted the Bible in her resignation letter, writing, “The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures. “Since I love and follow Him, I cannot put my signature on something that is against God.”

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Gay Marriage