On Tuesday, the Kern County Board of Supervisors rejected the "Marriage Protection Ordinance," proposed by the Campaign for Children and Families, which would have directly contradicted the May 15th ruling by the California Supreme Court by outlawing marriages between gay couples within the county.

Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett came under scrutiny in June after she moved to end all civil marriages shortly before the ruling, which affirmed the equal right to civil marriage for same-sex couples, was to take effect. She insisted that budget concerns, not personal beliefs, were behind the decision.

County Counsel Bernard Barmann noted that the county, in passing the proposed ordinance, would be doing exactly what San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom did in 2004, following passage of Proposition 22, in ordering the city to issue marriage licenses to gay couples: breaking the law to prove a point. It would also, he said, violate the state's constitution. Supervisor Mike Maggard voiced concerns that passing the ordinance would open the county, and its coffers, up to lawsuits.

Also rejected was a motion by Supervisor Don Maben to ask neighboring San Bernardino County to deputize Kern County employees to perform marriages.

"If these 'pro-marriage' supervisors had been at the Alamo, they probably would have turned tail and ran," Campaign for Children and Families president Randy Thomasson opined. "It's sad to see so-called 'public servants' so reluctant to sacrifice their personal comfort and set a good example for the children. They did the wrong thing by not publicly upholding marriage as a beautiful and exclusive relationship between a man and a woman."

San Diego County, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, fielded complaints from 24 employees who objected to performing civil ceremonies and issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Ultimately, six stood firm on their objections, on personal and religious grounds, and were transferred or posted to other positions, per the controversial decision by County Clerk Greg Smith to allow employees to opt out of handling same-sex marriages.

Delores Jacobs, chief executive of the San Diego Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community center, commended Smith. "Couples felt well-treated," she said. "They felt respected and attended to.

"It was an important day for them and they felt like they got the dignity and respect that all couples should have when they marry."

"Obviously, it's a slippery slope," Jacobs said of Smith's personnel decision, "and it sounds to me like he was able to craft a response at this point in time that he believed worked."

Proposition 8, or the "California Marriage Protection Act," to appear on California's ballots in November, proposes to contradict the Supreme Court and reverse same-sex couples' rights by inserting the original text from the voter-approved Proposition 22 into the state's constitution: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."