This decision comes almost two months after the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality when Rowan Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis refused to issue the documents to same-sex couples saying doing so would infringe upon her religious freedom.
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Clerks in scattered locations across the South objected in June after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marriage.
Bunning said Davis had to live up to her responsibilities as county clerk.
The ACLU of Kentucky and cooperating attorneys from the firm Clay Daniel Walton & Adams represented four Rowan County couples in the case, two same-sex and two opposite-sex, who were refused a marriage license because of Ms. Davis’ attempt to avoid issuing licenses to gays and lesbians.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has repeatedly told county clerks to issue marriage licenses to couples who qualify, no matter their sexual orientation.
“Davis is certainly free to disagree with the court’s opinion, as many Americans likely do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it. To hold otherwise would set a risky precedent”.
Davis says she stopped issuing all marriage licenses because she did not want to discriminate against anyone.
“If I authorize (same-sex marriage licenses), I’m saying I agree with that and I can’t”, she said.
Davis is among a number of clerks in Kentucky who have cited concerns over issuing licenses, and Bunning argues that siding with Davis would allow other clerks to follow her approach, in what could become a “substantial interference” in half of the state.
When asked if Davis would begin issuing licenses, Gannam said he hopes to obtain a stay before any more are requested.
“This lawsuit has never been about them getting married; they could have done that any time”, he said, suggesting the couples could have gone to the next county and applied for a license there. “… There are individuals in this rural region of the state who simply do not have the physical, financial or practical means to travel”.
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April Miller, one of the plaintiffs, has been engaged to Karen Roberts for 11 years. We have talked about food and cake and music and having a big party. “We need a license, and we need a date”.
