Clerks too Busy to Resurrect 'Bride', 'Groom'

Local officials ask Calif. to wait 'til after election for change
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2008 6:19 AM CDT
Clerks too Busy to Resurrect 'Bride', 'Groom'
Gay couples from across the nation are feverishly planning to tie the knot before Election Day to avoid possible passage of a California ballot initiative aimed at banning same-sex marriage.    (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

A civil servants group in California has asked the state for a delay in restoring the words “bride” and “groom” as an option on marriage licenses because clerks are too swamped with election preparations to update the forms, reports the New York Times. The group has “no concern with the content of the change,” says its president—it’s just bad timing.

California designated marrying partners as "Party A" and "Party B" after the state legalized gay marriage in June, but last week ordered county officials to let couples use the terms "bride" and "groom" after a heterosexual pair complained. Local officials say the changes will be expensive and difficult to implement by the November 17 deadline.
(More California stories.)

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