Kim Davis loses same-sex marriage delay bid – again
Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis
Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis has once again been told by the courts that she cannot stop her office from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court rejected her bid to suspend this service to gay and lesbian couples while she sues Governor Steve Beshear.
Davis has taken Beshear to court claiming that he improperly ordered her and other county clerks in Kentucky to issue the marriage licenses, effectively forcing them to act against their Christian beliefs.
The stubborn public servant spent five days in jail after she ignored a court order compelling her to do her job. She was released on condition that she does not interfere with her staff when they serve same-sex couples.
Upon returning to work on Monday, Davis allowed same-sex licenses to be issued but changed the document templates so that they do not include her name and title and added the line “pursuant to federal court order.”
She’s stated that she believes that, as a result, the licenses are legally invalid; a claim that may yet have to be tested in court.
James Esseks, Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project, said that Davis “keeps asking the same question and getting the same answer from the courts – that she has to do her job.”
“Issuing marriage licenses doesn’t mean she approves of those marriages, it just means she’s doing the job she was elected to do,” he said in a statement.
I complement Davis for being persistent and for being true Christian. We need more Christians who have the guts to stand up against governments. God bless and protect her
Keep you Christian beliefs and allow us our liberal freedoms!
Perhaps Ms Davis should just be moved sideways within the county office. It’s the “no mess, no fuss, no one gets hurt” solution. It’s not right that she’s denying licenses but also not really fair to ignore the courage of her convictions either – if they are sincere. Seeing as the conflict between her belief and the job requirement came about after she was hired, there was no way she could have reasonably avoided the situation. Perhaps her employer, that being the county/state/whoever didn’t consider such an eventuality prior to same sex marriage coming into effect. Either way I do think it was and is up to her employer to respect and take cognisance of aunty Kim’s belief, to which she is entitled like it or not, and effectively circumvented any issues that may arise. Instead she gets chucked in chooky for a few days. Unless there’s some clause in her employment contract that obliges her to perform all her duties even if laws change, then her time behind bars would be fair. However, when all is said and done, there are of course those gay couples who have tried to get married and are legally entitled to but have been denied that. I do think the County/State, and not so much Ms Davis at this point in time, owe those couples compensation. All shall be revealed in time no doubt. Time that coulda, woulda, shoulda been avoided if due consideration of all concerned by all concerned had first taken place. I am keen to see what transpires as there may be some lessons in it for us in sunny SA. As for altering the templates…that sounds dodgy to me. I can only wonder if Kimmy’s “holier than thou” “victory” hasn’t made her so giddy she’s fallen quite off balance and crossed the line irrevocably tainting any credibility for her “saintly beliefs” and instead exposing herself as a fraud. Again, time will tell.