Clerk's office defies order to issue gay marriage licenses
MOREHEAD, Ky. — Despite a federal injunction, the Rowan County Clerk's Office refused to issue a same-sex marriage licenses Thursday, despite a federal judge's order that dismissed the clerk's religious objections.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis' office turned away David Moore and David Ermold, where a deputy clerk told him the office was not issuing the forms.
"We came here as anyone should be able to do because there is an injunction," said Moore. "Anyone should be able to come in, walk in there and get a marriage license."
Deputy clerk Nathan Davis said the office was advised by its attorneys with a Christian law firm Liberty Counsel to continue refusing same-sex couples as it appeals the ruling in court.
Moore said he also attempted to obtain the paperwork from the county judge-executive but was turned away.
The clerks are "defying the injunction," he said.
In a 28-page opinion Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning found that Davis, an Apostolic Christian, has interfered with a now-fundamental right to marry by denying licenses to four couples based on her private religious beliefs. Bunning granted a preliminary injunction against Davis on Wednesday.
“She may continue to attend church twice a week, participate in Bible study and minister to female inmates at the Rowan County jail,” Bunning wrote. “She is even free to believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, as many Americans do. However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County clerk.”
As the American Civil Liberties Union is fighting the legal case, it is up to them whether to seek a contempt of court charge, Moore said.
This is the second time Moore and his partner have been refused a license since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that marriage is a fundamental right for all couples, regardless of gender.
A video of his first attempt was heavily circulated online.
"Kim Davis is just an example of what's going to be happening not only to other clerks but to other people who are going to be confronted with this issue and we think that this is a serious matter that needs to be decided by a higher court, even the Supreme Court," said Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver.
Another couple also was turned away Thursday.
James Yates and his partner, Will Smith Jr., have been together more than nine years and were originally trying to plan a wedding for July. But Thursday, a deputy clerk said that Davis is on vacation and had instructed deputies not to give out licenses.
Yates called the delay frustrating and exhausting and drew a stark contrast between Davis' policy and attitudes in the community, the home of Morehead State University.
"This is probably one of the few communities in Eastern Kentucky where you really can be open and out most of the time," he said. "There's a lot of support."
Yates, 41, said he and Smith, 32, decided to get married a few years ago, and even considered driving to another state to make it official. The couple eventually decided not to leave since their union would not be recognized in Kentucky anyway, he said.
"It makes me worried about other things when we do get married," Yates said. "What if they refuse to let us file joint paperwork because they are against that?"
The sad part, Smith said, is that "this is going to be how we remember how we got our marriage license — and the hoops we had to jump through."
Bunning, a conservative judge who was appointed by former president George W. Bush, also found that marriage forms do not constitute an endorsement: Instead, a clerk simply certifies that information is accurate and that couples are qualified to marry under state law.
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.
Contributing: The Associated Press.