Scenes from one of the last civil ceremonies
BY JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer e-mail:jburger@bakersfield.com
Avelina Castro and Moses Jimenez’s civil marriage in the Kern County clerk’s office Thursday afternoon may be one of the last few performed by this county.
Jimenez and Castro were getting married at the county clerk’s office, said Jimenez’s grandmother Helen Appodaca, because the $30 fee is less expensive than a $300 wedding ceremony in a church.
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A joyful Moses Jimenez places the wedding band on the finger of his bride-to-be Avelina Castro, as best man Julio Sanchez watches, during a civil wedding ceremony performed at the county clerk's office in Bakersfield on Thursday.
Helen Appodaca, left, grandmother of the groom, hugs Avelina Castro and welcomes her to the family as Moses Jimenez looks at their wedding certificate at the county clerk's office in Bakersfield on Thursday.
Moses Jimenez, right, and his bride-to-be, Avelina Castro, waits with his family for their civil wedding ceremony to be performed at the county clerk's office in Bakersfield on Thursday. Grandmother and family matriarch Helen Appodaca looks on from the left.
And today, families are trying to save wherever they can.
The civil option was taken off the table this week by County Auditor-Controller Ann Barnett. She canceled all civil marriages — same-sex and straight — in the wake of Wednesday’s court decision to let a legal ruling overturning a ban on gay marriage stand.
The last marriage will be performed on June 13.
Shy and nervous, Castro and Jimenez stumbled a little over their vows.
But their family was anything but shy, and they had something to say about the end of civil marriages in Kern County.
“That’s fair,” said family member Jesse Del Rio, about Barnett’s decision.
Anna Appodaca, Castro’s bridesmaid, said Barnett’s decision is stupid.
“You treat everyone equal,” she said.
“She’s gay,” said Appodaca’s grandmother Helen Appodaca.
Del Rio said he has nothing against gay people but “In the Bible it’s Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.”
“I knew you were going to say that,” said Anna Appodaca, swatting him across her grandmother’s back. “He goes to gay bars!” Del Rio said he has no problem with gay people.
“They’re human. Treat ‘em like a human,” he said.
Helen Appodaca said Barnett has gone too far in ending civil marriage ceremonies.
Her family is Catholic and their faith is strong. But her faith includes her love for her family.
“I have both straight and gay grandkids,” said Appodaca. “It’s not going to make me turn my back against my blood — my kids.”
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