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Kentucky’s anti-gay Rowan County Clerk files lawsuit against governor in marriage license battle
Kentucky’s anti-gay Rowan County Clerk is suing the state’s governor for insisting that she and other clerks in the state issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Kim Davis has filed a lawsuit against Governor Steve Beshear alleging that he has violated her ‘religious freedom.’
Her lawsuit states: ‘The Commonwealth of Kentucky, acting through Governor Beshear, has deprived Davis of her religious-conscience rights guaranteed by the United States and Kentucky constitutions and laws, by insisting that Davis issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples contrary to her conscience, based on her sincerely held religious beliefs.’
Beshear sent a clear message last month to Davis and other county clerks in his state who continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the US Supreme Court’s 26 June ruling that brought marriage equality to all 50 states: Do your job or quit.
‘When you voluntarily decide to run for office, and you win, and you raise your hand and you take the oath to uphold the Constitutions of the United States… that oath doesn’t say “I will uphold the parts of the Constitution that I agree with and won’t with the parts I don’t agree with,”‘ Beshear said during a press conference on 21 July.
He had added: ‘You can continue to have your own personal beliefs but, you’re also taking an oath to fulfill the duties prescribed by law, and if you are at that point to where your personal convictions tell you that you simply cannot fulfill your duties that you were elected to do, than obviously an honorable course to take is to resign and let someone else step-in who feels that they can fulfill those duties.’
Davis claims in her lawsuit that my insisting Davis issue licenses to same-sex couples, he has left her vulnerable to lawsuits.
Davis, who has been married four times, is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union and wants the governor to pay for those and any other lawsuits filed against her by her constituents.
According to The Lexington Herald-Leader, Davis is seeking protection from ‘Kentucky’s marriage policies’ given her rights under the state’s religious-freedom law which protects ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’ from infringement unless there is ‘a compelling governmental interest.
The post Kentucky’s anti-gay Rowan County Clerk files lawsuit against governor in marriage license battle appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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