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County Employee Transferred After Refusing To Issue Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couples

An employee of the Maricopa County Clerk of the Superior Court has been transferred to another department after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds. Office spokesman Aaron Nash says it appears the employee had a change of heart.

“We had an employee who issued licenses on Friday and then at some point on Monday had gone to the supervisor with a religious belief request to not issue licenses anymore," Nash said.

Nash said the worker was allowed to make a lateral transfer because of a vacancy in another area. He said the vacancy created by the transfer has yet to be filled. Nash noted they're not seeing the record number of marriage license requests they did last Friday, the day same-sex marriage became legal, but that the numbers are still well above average.

Dennis Lambert was a morning host at KJZZ.