FLORIDA: Almost All County Clerks Plan To Refuse Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

Via the Associated Press:

Most of Florida's 67 clerks of court don't plan to issue marriage licenses to gay couples on Jan. 6, paralyzed by confusion over whether a ban on same-sex marriage is being lifted across the whole state that day, according to an Associated Press survey. Of the 53 clerks who responded to the AP survey, 46 said they wouldn't grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples because they lack legal authority. Six clerks said they hadn't made up their minds; Only one clerk outside Washington County, Osceola County's Armando Ramirez, said he would issue the licenses. Ramirez said his office would begin issuing marriage permits for same-sex couples a minute after midnight on Jan. 6. He said it's a matter of not discriminating against a minority group. "We won't waste any time," he said.

On Wednesday federal Judge Robert Hinkle gave the state until Monday to respond to a motion filed by the Washington County clerk. That motion seeks clarification on whether the clerk must only issue a license to the one couple named in the federal suit that overturned Florida's ban statewide. The ban had previously been declared unconstitutional by state judges in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

RELATED:  Osceola County, just south of Orlando, is home to a large portion of Walt Disney World, whose boundaries also stretch north into Orange County.