Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ office rejected the couples’ bid for licences just hours after a U.S. district judge ordered her to do the opposite and wrote that the refusal “likely violated the constitutional rights of her constituents”.
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On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning issued a preliminary injunction ordering Davis’ office to process license applications from all couples, saying she had to live up to her responsibilities as county clerk.
The couple appealed to Rowan Judge-Executive Walter Blevins after being rejected from the clerk’s office.
“But there is only one way for Kim Davis to exercise her religious freedom”, he said.
James Yates and William Smith Jr., a couple for almost a decade, were the second pair turned away Thursday. But lawyers for Davis immediately appealed, and Thursday morning, Davis did not show up at work. “This is how gay people are treated in this country”. They were among four couples who sought licenses from Davis following the Supreme Court decision.
Advocates for gay rights say Davis, a member of an Apostolic Christian church, is an outlier. The clerk is defying the order on that group’s advice, according to the deputy clerks.
South Dakota’s attorney general has granted consent to county clerks with conscientious objections to opt out of issuing homosexual “marriage” licenses, providing another clerk in the office will issue the license.
A number objected. Lawrence County Clerk Chris Jobe, president of the Kentucky Clerks Association, has said almost 60 of the state’s 120 clerks pledged to send a letter to Beshear, asking that he call a special session to find a way to accommodate their faiths.
Still, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ office turned them away.
They described a disconnect between the clerk’s office and their experience in the community of Morehead, a college town they say has long been open and accepting.
“This case could be a marker of how the religious freedom aspects of same-sex marriage are going to be worked out”, said Gannam.
“While the opposing side may well attempt to invoke violent attacks against us, those who support marriage as the union between one man and one woman have the benefit of truth on their side”.
They held hands as they walked into the clerk’s office, and gay rights activists shouted “Good luck!” from the street, holding signs that read “clerk not clergy” and “obey the law”.
But, he added, “her religious convictions can not excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform”.
David Ermold broke down in the county’s judge-executive’s office, after he was denied a license to marry David Moore, his partner of 17 years.
Laura Landenwich, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that although couples could get marriage licences elsewhere, they shouldn’t be required to spend the extra time and money.
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“I will say that people are cruel, they are cruel, these people are cruel”, Ermold said, tears welling in his eyes.
