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Indiana county clerk: Same-sex marriage applicants could face jail

LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 10 (UPI) -- Same-sex couples seeking to marry could be jailed for submitting a marriage license application in Tippecanoe County, Ind., the county clerk warned.

Indiana's marriage license application has spaces designated for "male applicant" and "female applicant," and Tippecanoe County Clerk Crista Coffey noted only one man and one woman may seek marriage in the state.

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"Applicants for marriage do sign their paperwork under penalty of perjury," Coffey said, adding two men or two women applying to marry could trigger the 1997 law.

Perjury is a felony in Indiana, punishable by as much as 18 months in prison and a potential fine of $10,000.

"When our government doesn't support us, the LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) community, and we have all these gay-straight alliances pop up, and you have all these bullying issues, what type of message does that send to our children?," Ashley Smith, of the group Pride Lafayette, told WLFI-TV, Lafayette, Ind.

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