By John Mack Freeman
The ongoing saga of marriage licenses in Rowan County, Kentucky continued this week. US District Judge David Bunning ruled this week that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’s religious beliefs do no exempt her from performing the duties of her office. Davis had previously objected to having to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She is suing to have that right defended as part of her “religious freedom.” However, both Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the courts have now told her to do her job.
That’s not the end of the matter, though. Davis’s office once again turned away a same-sex couple this week after the district court ruling. They are refusing to issue any marriage licenses at this point, pending appeal of the district court decision. Via Talking Points Memo:
Kim Davis has argued that her deeply held Christian beliefs prevent her from issuing licenses to same-sex couples. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage bans unconstitutional, Davis stopped issuing licenses to any couple, gay or straight.
Five couples sued her, and U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning on Wednesday ordered her to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
He wrote that her refusal “likely violated the constitutional rights of her constituents.”
Ermold, in a tearful plea, called her actions “cruel” and said they were representative of the continued discrimination faced by gay couples.
In Kentucky, county clerks issue marriage licenses, but someone else must “solemnize” the marriage before the license can be filed with the county clerk. Davis argued that issuing a same-sex marriage license that contains her signature is the same as her approving the marriage, which she said violates her Christian beliefs. But Bunning rejected that argument, saying Davis has likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on the government establishing a religion by “openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religious convictions at the expenses of others.”