PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Marion County judge has asked his clerks to refer couples seeking same-sex marriages to other county judges.
Judge Vance Day, a former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, is now facing an ethics investigation as a result of that decision.
Spokesman Patrick Korten says Day asked his staff to send same-sex couples elsewhere due to his religious beliefs.
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On Thursday, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission gave Day permission to create a legal defense fund for himself in order to cover such expenses he expects to incur during the investigation.
Day joined the bench in 2011 and has not performed any same-sex marriages. He stopped doing marriages of any kind this past spring. Marion County judges are not required to perform marriages.
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