KY clerk ordered to violate conscience sues governor

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is suing Kentuncky Governor Steve Beshear for insisting that she provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She blamed him for instructing all of the state’s county clerks to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis claims that Beshear’s directive violates her “sincerely held religious beliefs”. “Nor can Davis allow her name to appear as the source of authority and approval for any marriage license issued to a same-sex couple because providing such approval would violate her honest religious beliefs and convictions”. Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to any couple, straight or gay.

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.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who heard arguments last month in the lawsuits the couples filed against Davis, is expected to issue a ruling this month.

Also named in the suit is Wayne Onkst, the state’s librarian and commission for the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

Both Onkst and Beshear have declined to comment. “She swore in her oath of office to uphold the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has decided what the Constitution says here”. Attorney General Jack Conway declined to appeal that decision because he said he could not in good conscience defend discrimination.

“Governor Beshear is unlawfully picking and choosing the conscience-based exemptions to marriage that he deems acceptable”, her suit states. Most importantly, it’s not unconstitutional for an Attorney General not to defend a state law, but it very much is unconstitutional under Obergefell to deprive a same-sex couple of access to marriage.

A county clerk in Kentucky who was sued for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses is now suing the governor.