March 16, 2015 / Modified mar 17, 2015 4:43 a.m.

Judges Must Perform All Weddings, Including Same-Sex

Arizona Judicial Ethics Committee tells jurists to accept all couples or none at all.

Same-Sex Couple marries in Tucson Jennifer Shelton, left, and Katherine Harrison got their wedding license at the Pima County Courthouse in Tucson in October 2014, hours after gay marriage was legalized in Arizona.
AZPM Staff

Listen:

The Arizona Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee issued an opinion telling judges they may not refuse to marry same-sex couples if they perform opposite-sex marriages.

The committee wrote a three-page opinion in a question and answer format and a more detailed explanation of the ruling.

The opinion says turning away only same sex couples is a violation of the judicial conduct rule forbidding “bias” or “prejudice” based on sexual orientation.

Religious objections from the judge do not matter if he or she performs opposite-sex marriages.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona