As part of activities to institutionalise same sex marriage in America as being pronounced by a ruling of the the Supreme Court which would serve as judicial precedence, a federal judge in Kentucky hasordered a county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex
couples.
Rowan County
Clerk Kim Davis was one of a handful of local elected officials across the
country that stopped issuing marriage licenses after the court's ruling in
June. She said issuing a marriage license to a gay couple would violate her
Christian beliefs and argued the U.S. Constitution protected her religious
freedoms.
Two gay couples
and two straight couples in Rowan County sued her.
U.S. District
Judge David Bunning said the couples should not be forced to travel to another
county to get marriage licenses.
"Davis is
certainly free to disagree with the court's opinion, as many Americans likely
do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it," Bunning wrote.
"To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent."
April Miller, one
of the plaintiffs, has been engaged to Karen Roberts for 11 years. They were
the first couple to be denied in Rowan County and said they plan to return to
the clerk's office soon to get a license.
"We have our
rings, we have an officiant, we have talked about food and cake and music and
having a big party. We're excited about it." she said. "We need a
license and we need a date."
County clerks
issue marriage licenses in Kentucky, but someone else must
"solemnize" the marriage before the license can be filed with the county
clerk. Davis argued that by issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple,
she was authorizing that marriage and thus approving it. But Bunning rejected
that argument.
"The state
is not asking her to condone same-sex unions on moral or religious grounds, nor
is it restricting her from engaging in a variety of religious activities,"
Bunning wrote. "However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from
performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County
Clerk."
A federal judge ordered
a county clerk in Kentucky to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,
saying the clerk must follow the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing
same-sex marriage nationwide.
Rowan County
Clerk Kim Davis was one of a handful of local elected officials across the
country that stopped issuing marriage licenses after the court's ruling in
June. She said issuing a marriage license to a gay couple would violate her
Christian beliefs and argued the U.S. Constitution protected her religious
freedoms.
Two gay couples
and two straight couples in Rowan County sued her.
U.S. District
Judge David Bunning said the couples should not be forced to travel to another
county to get marriage licenses.
"Davis is
certainly free to disagree with the court's opinion, as many Americans likely
do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it," Bunning wrote.
"To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent."
April Miller, one
of the plaintiffs, has been engaged to Karen Roberts for 11 years. They were
the first couple to be denied in Rowan County and said they plan to return to
the clerk's office soon to get a license.
"We have our
rings, we have an officiant, we have talked about food and cake and music and
having a big party. We're excited about it." she said. "We need a
license and we need a date."
County clerks
issue marriage licenses in Kentucky, but someone else must
"solemnize" the marriage before the license can be filed with the
county clerk. Davis argued that by issuing a marriage license to a same-sex
couple, she was authorizing that marriage and thus approving it. But Bunning
rejected that argument.
"The state
is not asking her to condone same-sex unions on moral or religious grounds, nor
is it restricting her from engaging in a variety of religious activities,"
Bunning wrote. "However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from
performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County
Clerk."
