Kern County refuses to ban gay marriages

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — Kern County supervisors refused to ban gay marriages, rebuffing a conservative group that sought to make it the first California county to reject the statewide policy.

The Campaign for Children and Families hoped the passage of a gay marriage ban in Kern County would embolden other counties to follow suit.

But supervisors declined to act on the measure after Bernard Barmann, the county's lawyer, said it would be illegal for the county to adopt its own same-sex marriage ban.

The Kern County clerk's office stopped offering all marriage ceremonies on June 15, the day before gay marriage became legal.