Shannon Price Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said he didn't have a problem with Barnett's decision as long as she applied it evenly.
"They are providing marriage licenses to everyone and they are not performing weddings for anyone," Minter said. "So there is no discrimination."
In conservative Kern County, however, Barnett's decision unleashed a firestorm of debate, with many blog posters giving her a slap on the back.
"What a blessing it is for an elected official to stand their ground concerning their moral and religious beliefs!!!" someone who gave the name Donnabelhumeur wrote on a blog hosted by the Californian. "Good for you, Ann, you do not disappoint those who know and love you, and more importantly you do not disappoint God!"
But others saw her actions as improper for an elected official, even if her office is not required to officiate at civil ceremonies.
FloridaStateGrad, another poster on the Californian blog, said there is nothing wrong with standing up for beliefs. "However, when you are a government official, you have absolutely no right to lie or take advantage of your position for the sake of standing up for what you believe in."
The Rev. Bryd Tetzlaff of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kern County, which supports same-sex marriage, said she and other ministers were planning to show up outside Barnett's office June 17 to perform marriages for anyone who wants them. They will stay all day if necessary, Tetzlaff said.
"It's the right thing to do," Tetzlaff said.
In her statement, Barnett said her office would be unable to accommodate the flood of marriage requests expected in the wake of the state Supreme Court's May 15 ruling allowing same-sex weddings in California.
"Because of long-term administrative plans, budgetary reasons and the need to increase security for the election, the clerk's office will cease solemnizing weddings, which is discretionary on the part of the county clerk," she said in a statement released Wednesday.
Clerks in many California counties are planning to issue licenses and perform ceremonies for same-sex couples as soon as they are legally able to do so. Santa Cruz, for instance, is accepting appointments.
San Francisco city officials are expecting to marry as many as 500 couples a day.
But other offices, such as Santa Barbara's, don't offer anything but licenses and don't plan to alter that practice come June 17.
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catherine.saillant@latimes.com
