William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a gay couple who were denied a marriage license after their third attempt by a deputy clerk in Rowan County, vowed never to give up. Commenting about Kim Davis, the clerk who denied them of their license, and her current decision not to issue any marriage licenses even to straight people, the couple said, “They’d rather burn the earth and not let straight people in Rowan country get married either.”
According to the Associated Press , the day before this incident, a federal appeal court held a ruling ordering the clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning had ordered Kim Davis a couple of weeks ago to issue the marriage license to the same-sex couple but delayed that ruling until Aug. 31.
Another gay couple, April Miller and Karen Roberts, who were also refused a license last month said they felt vindicated by the Supreme court ruling. “One step closer,” Miller said. “We might be able to get married in September.”
According to Fox News report, Kim Davis, the county clerk of Rowan County, is asking permission to keep denying marriage licenses to gay couples. She asked the Supreme court “to grant her asylum for her conscience.”
Kim filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme court on Friday, asking for a delay to issue licenses until her appeal is over, a process legal experts believe may stretch for several months.
According to her attorney, forcing Davis to issue licenses against her Christian values and principles is almost the same as forcing a person against their own will to war.
Jonathan D. Christman, Davis’ attorney, also argued in a written statement, “That searing act of personal validation would forever, and irreversibly, echo in her conscience — and, if it happened, there is no absolution or correction that any earthly court can provide to rectify it.”
Miller and her partner, who were also refused last month, sued Davis for the refusal. Their attorney Dan Canon on the other hand argues against Davis’s attorney.
“We’ve already had four federal judges speak very clearly on this particular issue, and I don’t anticipate the response from Justice Kagan will be any different,” Canon said. “Each time we get an opinion on this case, it’s a reconfirmation of what is a core tenant of American democracy: an elected politician can’t govern an entire county according to his or her own private religious beliefs. They have to follow the law.”
Other legal experts believe Kagan will deny Davis. What do you think of Kim Davis’ decision?
[Image courtesy:Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo]
