Civil Registrars Forced to Officiate Same Sex Ceremonies

Country: Ireland

Date of incident: May 21, 2013


A civil registrar could go to jail for up to six months for refusing to officiate at the ceremony of, for example, a same-sex couple. While churches are not forced to actually perform such ceremonies directly, they might face fines if they refuse to rent out halls for same-sex couples who wanted to use it for their reception following a civil partnership.

Source and further information: The Observatory's Report 2012 on Legal Restrictions Effecting Christians in Europe