Marriage certificate spurs angry outburst in Barrington

Resident angry that certificate did not include verbiage for same sex marriage

Posted 6/19/17

A Barrington resident created quite a scene inside the Barrington Town Hall on Monday, June 12, in response to the marriage certificate form that he was given by town officials.

According to …

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Marriage certificate spurs angry outburst in Barrington

Resident angry that certificate did not include verbiage for same sex marriage

Posted

A Barrington resident created quite a scene inside the Barrington Town Hall on Monday, June 12, in response to a marriage certificate form.

According to police, the resident entered the town hall at about 9:30 a.m. and started yelling and shouting at town employees about a marriage certificate form. Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha said the man had brought the form with him.

"The form he had was from 2011," Mr. Cunha said.

Police said the man is gay and was angry because the form's verbiage referenced a marriage between and man and a woman and did not include terms for a same-sex marriage.

Read more Barrington police news.

According to police, a town employee tried to calm down the resident but her efforts were rebuffed. 

The man eventually walked out of the town hall, but returned about an hour later. The town hall employee reportedly tried to make amends for the prior situation — she handed the resident a new, updated form with the same-sex verbiage included. She also extended her hand and asked to "start over" but the angry resident refused to shake her hand. Another resident inside the town hall witnessed the second exchange.

The man then left the town hall with the updated form.

Police are investigating.

Note: An earlier version of this article stated that the man had been given the old form by a town official. 

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