Eunice Brabec, a 69-year-old volunteer wedding official from South San Francisco, didn't feel right about performing the marriage of two men or two women.
"I think that marriage is between a man and woman to have children," said Brabec, one of two volunteer marriage commissioners in San Mateo County who decided to stop doing weddings to avoid doing same-sex ceremonies.
Elsewhere in California, at least one county clerk-recorder is suspending wedding ceremonies for all couples rather than do same-sex marriages starting June 17. But despite occasional protests, many Bay Area county clerks are hearing from a crop of volunteers who want to help officiate the same-sex ceremonies.
Santa Clara County got so many, it is having a special training session for about 70 people in San Jose on Wednesday.
"They called the office and said they wanted to help us out," said Regina Alcomendras, clerk-recorder for Santa Clara County. "I didn't anticipate that much response."
A study released Monday by the Williams Institute think tank predicts nearly 120,000 same-sex weddings in California over the next three years, with about 68,000 couples coming from out of state. That would pump $684 million into the state's wedding industry and create over 2,000 jobs, said the institute, which studies sexual orientation and public policy at the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Wedding officials split on gay marriage ceremonies
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
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