Kentucky – Clerk Refuses Marriage Licenses Despite Supreme Court Decision

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    Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, foreground left, is greeted as she arrives for work at the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead, Ky., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. Davis' appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was turned down on Monday, and now she is under federal orders to begin issuing marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)Kentucky – A county clerk in Kentucky has again refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, invoking her religious beliefs and “God’s authority” — this time in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against her.

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    On Tuesday morning, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ office denied the licenses to at least two couples. At first, Davis was in her office with the door closed and blinds drawn. But she emerged a few minutes later, telling the couples and the activists gathered there that her office is continuing to deny the licenses “under God’s authority.”

    Davis asked David Moore and David Ermold, a couple who has been rejected four times by her office, to leave. They refused, surrounded by reporters and cameras.

    “We’re not leaving until we have a license,” Ermold said.

    “Then you’re going to have a long day,” Davis told him.

    From the back of the room, Davis’ supporters said: “Praise the Lord! … Stand your ground.”

    Other activists shouted that Davis is a bigot and told her: “Do your job.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in the case, leaving Davis no legal grounds to refuse to grant licenses to gay couples. A district judge could now hold her in contempt, which can carry steep fines or jail time.

    Davis has steadfastly refused to issue the licenses, saying her deeply held Christian beliefs don’t let her endorse gay marriages.

    Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses in the days after U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the nation. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that she must fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her personal religious faith. A federal judge ordered her to issue the licenses, and an appeals court upheld that decision. Her lawyers with the Liberty Counsel filed a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking that they grant her “asylum for her conscience.”

    Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees the 6th district, referred Davis’ request to the full court, which denied the stay without comment.

    On Tuesday morning, shortly after Davis’ remarks, the sheriff’s office cleared the county office of those gathered to support both sides of the issue.

    The two groups lined up on either side of the courthouse entrance to chant at each other. Davis’ supporters told her to “stand firm,” while gay-rights activists shouted “do your job.”

    The rejected couples’ supporters called the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on their behalf. They asked that their attorneys file to have Davis held in contempt.

    Randy Smith, leading the group supporting Davis, said he knows following their instruction to “stand firm” might mean Davis goes to jail.

    “But at the end of the day, we have to stand before God, which has higher authority than the Supreme Court,” he said.

    Ermold hugged Moore, his partner of 17 years, and they cried and swayed as they left the clerk’s office. Davis’ supporters marched by, chanting.

    “I feel sad, I feel devastated,” Ermold said. “I feel like I’ve been humiliated on such a national level, I can’t even comprehend it.”


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    28 Comments
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    8 years ago

    People like her make me proud to be an American. G-d bless you, Mrs. Davis.

    8 years ago

    The cost of living in Brooklyn is getting expensive. Maybe I’ll move to Kentucky. This way, my cost of living would be cheaper, the goyishe environment around me would be less —–, my taxpayer dollars would be supporting people like this brave woman instead of —–, the money I spend would be supporting an economy I could feel more comfortable with, and my vote could support people like her.

    The only problem is that the only frum minyan seems to be in Louisville.

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    8 years ago

    Oddly, I feel the opposite way. I prefer my government to be limited by law.

    sighber
    sighber
    8 years ago

    The Torah forbids homosexuality for Jews and bnai Noach. The purpose of courts for bnai Noach is to uphold the sheva mitzvos. Since the courts of the US do not uphold the sheva mitvzos, the courts are acting illegally according to G-d’s laws. Mrs. Davis is not going against the Law-the courts are.

    DavidCohen
    DavidCohen
    8 years ago

    She does not have to agree with the law, but if that’s part of the job now then do the job or quit.

    8 years ago

    Actually, this kind of right wing evangelical vermin who would defy the law in the name of their own hashkafah should either be jailed or thrown out of office. She was elected to administer the law as defined by the courts under our constitutional system. If she wants to uphold her own warped notion of morality then resign. When the President takes administrative actions, these morons scream gevalt. When their own do it, somehow it makes them heroes….enough of this stupid hypocricy.

    DanielBarbaz
    DanielBarbaz
    8 years ago

    The law is the law, whether she agrees or not. This is why we have laws. If she is so opposed to issuing the license then she should quit.

    I am tired of all the fundamentalists that want to impose their beliefs on others.

    FranZ
    FranZ
    8 years ago

    same sex couples should be allowed to marry under civil law. it’s the only way they can have their rights such as leaving property, or getting health coverage,etc. the county clerks have to uphold the law or go to work in a different capacity.

    Nycnyc
    Nycnyc
    8 years ago

    So we have to follow the laws of the land even when they contradict the Torah. So the Germans were right because the followed the law hitler to destroy the Jews. After all law is law.

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    8 years ago

    Kiddush this Shabbos in her honor.

    lazerx
    lazerx
    8 years ago

    Sodom and Gemorroh return, but this time to America.

    Benny
    Benny
    8 years ago

    Kim Davis for US President!
    If the men don’t have courage – let the women be the president!

    8 years ago

    This woman is a real heroine. She has morals, she believes in God, and she is willing to stand up for her beliefs and risk penalties and jail. The whole world around us going crazy. The normal, moral people are called crazy, and the depraved and degenerate people are called normal. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for one’s convictions in the middle of Sodom and Gomorah. This lady deserves a big yasher koach. May we all have the zechus to be able to stand up for good when we are surrounded by evil.

    8 years ago

    Just because a country makes laws does not mean they are righteous or should be followed by people of conscience. In Germany, it was the law to murder Jews and confiscate their property. In the U.S., homosexual “marriage” is now legal. As this lady bravely said, there is a law that is higher than that of the Supreme Court, and that is God’s law. When a society decays and becomes a sewer, the laws are made by Supreme Court justices who stink. Righteous people need courage to keep their morals and bearings in a sewer.