Gay marriage licenses available in Acadia on Wednesday

According to Clerk of Court Robby Barousse and Chief Deputy Clerk Blane Faulk, same-sex couples will be able to get marriage licenses at the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court’s Office beginning today.
Both say that any delay in the process was not due to any political beliefs, but simply a matter of getting their computers programmed properly.
“I had some people call up asking why we didn’t have them and Lafayette did,” said Faulk. “We won’t have our computers properly programmed to produce the new forms until today (Tuesday) and we will begin issuing them tomorrow (Wednesday).
“It’s simply business, we’re not looking at one couple or another,” he added. “It’s what the Supreme Court handed down and we’ll abide by it.”
“We’re going to abide by what the law tells us to do,” added Barousse. “This is not about personal preference.”
There has been plenty of well-publicized speculation that some clerks of court may not issue licenses due to personal religious beliefs. However, Faulk said that wasn’t the case and that it simply took a few days just to get their system operating so that the procedure will be as efficient as necessary.
He mentioned that Lafayette Parish has been writing their licenses by hand, which will require extra work.
“Acadia Parish is known for keeping good records and when people get their certificates they will be good to go,” he said. “We just needed some time to catch up. The Supreme Court handed down this decision pretty quickly and we had to prepare our system.”
Gov. Bobby Jindal had been fighting to delay the Supreme Court’s order but appears to have succumbed to public pressure, saying that while he will still support a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, for now, state agencies will comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling to recognize same-sex marriage.