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AG: Employees Can Have Someone Else Issue Marriage License

Associated Press0

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Attorney General Marty Jackley says if a county employee in South Dakota has religious objections to gay marriage they can have another employee issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.

Jackley said Thursday that the constitutional right to marry that’s now guaranteed to same-sex couples must coexist with the constitutional right of freedom of religion for county employees.

The attorney general said the issue hasn’t come up yet in South Dakota but said one county official has asked him hypothetically what would happen.

Jackley says if another county employee was able issue a license, it would be a “commonsense solution” and wouldn’t violate the rights of the couple or the employee. He says if someone else was not available, another county or the state could issue a license.

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