A second Texas county clerk stepped down this week to avoid having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the Texas Observer reported Wednesday.
Live Oak County Clerk Karen Irving said in an email, according to the Observer, that she was unable to uphold her oath of office because of the historic ruling in favor of gay marriage. Her final day was Wednesday, the magazine reported.
More than two weeks following the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, Live Oak County hasn’t issued a single marriage license to a same-sex couple because of “technical issues,” she said.
Irving said the county will finally be able to issue licenses to same-sex couples at the end of the week — after she leaves office.
“We’ll be up and ready to go tomorrow afternoon and for sure on Friday, unless there’s a glitch with the vendor, but I don’t think there will be,” she told the Observer.
She had been clerk since 2003.
Rusk County Clerk Joyce Lewis-Kugle was the first Texas county clerk to announce her resignation in early July rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
