Sex

Colorado County Clerk Removes Poster Opposing Same-Sex Marriage

A county clerk in Colorado has removed a poster from his office that quoted the Bible: “Each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband.”

After being spotlighted in news stories this month, a county clerk in Colorado has removed a poster from his office that quoted the Bible: “Each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband.” Shutterstock

After receiving media attention this month, a county clerk in Colorado has reportedly removed a poster from his office that quoted the Bible: “Each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband.”

Dallas Schroeder’s office, where the poster hung, issues marriage licenses to residents of Elbert County. The office has issued two same-sex marriages licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in late June.

Schroeder’s stance is still being praised by Generations Radio host Kevin Swanson, whose show broadcasts from Colorado.

“If you come anywhere close to a heathen sacrifice, a heathen temple, or a heathen ceremony, much of which is represented by the modern pagan state, and that is homosexual weddings, you ought to at least make it clear that you are not implicitly or explicitly approving of the idolatrous practice,” Swanson told his listeners during a recent podcast. “And using a Bible verse would be a good way to do that.”

The poster drew some complaints before the clerk took it down, as reported by KMGH-TV, Denver’s ABC affiliate.

“Everybody who comes in to get a marriage license is entitled to equal protection. And that’s not what they’re getting in Elbert County. They’re getting a church service—it’s not right,” Lark Fogel, an Elbert County resident, told KMGH. “We don’t need another lawsuit, either. He is clearly in the wrong.”

Fogel asked Schroeder to take down the poster, KMGH reported.

The station reported that Schroeder believes the poster is simply “a celebration of marriage,” but KMGH obtained emails stating that Schroeder produced the poster in response to requirements that he issue same-sex marriage licenses.

“My thought process is that they have to see the poster,” Schroeder wrote in the email obtained by the TV station. “And if they choose to violate God’s written Word, then that is on their head.”

Schroeder isn’t the first county clerk to make known his opposition on marriage equality. Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, was arrested this summer for contempt of court after refusing to issue marriage licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic decision.

Davis was hailed as a hero by anti-LGBTQ activists, as well as by Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates.