Last month, Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk Kim Davis told a gay couple she would not sign their marriage license because it went against her Christian faith. Even though the Supreme Court already ruled gay couples had a right to marry, and even though Davis herself had been married four times.
That couple (along with three others) sued Davis for refusing to do her job as a government official. Last night, a judge ruled that Davis was in the wrong:
“Davis remains free to practice her Apostolic Christian beliefs. She may continue to attend church twice a week, particiate in Bible Study and minister to female inmates at the Rowan County Jail. She is even free to believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, as many Americans do,” [U.S. District Judge David] Bunning wrote. “However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County Clerk.”
That’s exactly right. No one is telling her to deny her religious faith, but when she takes a job as a county clerk, she has a duty to uphold the Constitution, not the Bible. Not that that logic has much sway over her. Davis has already filed an appeal.
Despite the court’s ruling, Davis’ attorney, Roger Gannam, said Davis does not intend to issue any licenses until “we’ve exhausted all of our options to protect her rights.” Gannam filed his notice of appeal about an hour after Bunning’s order.
“This lawsuit has never been about them getting married; they could have done that any time,” he said, suggesting the couples could have gone to the next county and applied for a license there. “This lawsuit is about forcing Kim Davis to violate her religious liberty.”
I feel obligated to point out that Judge Bunning is a conservative judge appointed by President George W. Bush.
If a Christian couple was denied a marriage license by an atheist clerk, you’d hear shouts of persecution from neighboring states. The only reason Davis thinks she can get away with this is because Christians have had the upper hand in society for so long.
If you want to tell her that, you may have to fight your way through all the divorced couples, interracial couples, and non-Christian couples that she’s probably issuing marriage licenses to without any complaint.
(Thanks to everyone for the link)