TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Kern County law enforcement officials will not prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying at county buildings on Tuesday, as was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The San Francisco paper quoted a local reverend as saying she heard police will not allow marriages to be performed at the county building.

The county will allow gay and lesbian couples to assemble and hold ceremonies on the property surrounding the county building, said local gay and lesbian community leader Whitney Weddell.

Weddell said a county official did suggest moving the ceremonies away from the area of heavy foot traffic around the fountain that sits between the county administrative center and a county parking garage.

Instead, she said, the plan is to hold ceremonies in a shady courtyard just off Truxtun Avenue on the west side of the county building — or at the Liberty Bell in front of Kern County Superior Court at Truxtun and Chester avenues.

“We decided that these two areas are really rather nice,” Weddell said.

On Tuesday, local religious leaders plan to make themselves available to perform ceremonies for local gay and lesbian couples after the couples obtain marriage licenses from the county clerk’s office inside the building.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he will station one uniformed deputy in the county clerk’s office to maintain the peace on June 17.

“We have been asked by the auditor’s office to have a uniformed deputy inside the office,” he said.

Bakersfield Police Department Detective Blaine Craig said there have been rumors of a protest on June 17 and police and sheriff’s deputies are discussing whether they need to station officers on the grounds to maintain the peace.