Gay Couple Gets Marriage License In Kentucky After Clerk Goes To Jail

Morehead, Ky (By: Alex Crown) - Rowan County clerk Kim Davis has been summoned to the hearing at 11 a.m. Thursday before U.S. District Judge David Bunning. “Just because five Supreme Court judges make a ruling, it’s not a law”, she said.

“Last night Kim Davis was incarcerated in a jail cell while the rest of us slept in our comfortable beds”. She attends Solid Rock Apostolic Church in the county seat of Morehead.

A fourth gay couple planned to obtain a licence in the afternoon. He said Davis’ efforts are misguided.

Davis said she’s a different person since becoming a Christian 4½ years ago. “The county clerk has presented her position through the federal court system, all of the way to the U.S. Supreme Court".

“Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she can not violate her conscience”.

The couple had previously been denied one five times. Miller said she and Roberts will get a license, “show that piece of paper off for a minute or two”, then go home and try to resume a quiet life together, without court appearances and reporters calling at all hours.

There’s no sign Davis is getting out of jail soon. Their attorneys, along with Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins, said the licenses are valid. Not all the Republican White House hopefuls see it Huckabee’s way.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday authorities should have found a compromise to keep Davis out of jail.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear said he will allow any legal consequences which are prescribed to clerks who choose not to issue the marriage licenses. Davis’ name does not appear on the licenses.

A second gay couple has arrived at a Kentucky clerk’s office to apply for a marriage license.

The sixth deputy clerk, Davis’ son Nathan, would not agree to issue licences, but he was not jailed. The Longs did not respond, and a worker told the man to leave.

The Kentucky Equality Federation's secretary-general, Minister Jordan Palmer, which campaigns on gay rights, said Davis’ religious beliefs were “incompatible with the elected office she holds”, and called for her to be impeached during a telephone interview.

In a prepared statement Palmer stated:

"The fact is, Davis is not in prison because of her beliefs. She is being held in contempt of court because she refuses to resolve the job taxpayers elected her to perform and has broken her oath of office. She could easily resign and end the entire situation, but I suspect the national spotlight is truly the motivation. The office of an elected official is a public trust, not a personal platform for refusing service to the "wrong" sort of people; this reeks of the oppression of far-off lands where officials can make discriminatory rules and enforce summary judgement against certain classes, genders, orientations, races, and castes.

We are all equal before the law, and we encourage Davis to do the right thing, embrace the standard of public service (as she swore an oath to do), and comply with Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Wingate's ruling in Kentucky Equality Federation v. Commonwealth of Kentucky and the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court."

As Yates and Smith left the building, supporters chanted “Love has won!”

The “bulk of them” would likely be from Rowan County, an area of more than 23,300 people, said Palmer.

“She has no intention to resign”, he said. He said it would be up to same-sex couples to decide whether to test the validity of the licenses.

At 8:30 this morning, James Yates stepped out of the Rowan County Courthouse and rushed across the steps to hug his mom.

But American Civil Liberties Union attorneys contended Davis has no legal basis to avoid performing her duties as a government clerk.

Her defiance of the court order has drawn national attention.

LIDTIME.COM: http://www.lidtime.com/gay-couple-gets-marriage-license-in-kentucky-after-clerk-goes-to-jail-1429/

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: http://www.ibtimes.com/rowan-county-gay-marriage-update-couples-receive-marriage-licenses-kim-davis-office-2083640