County Clerk Discriminated Against Same-Sex Couples

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A US District Judge in Kentucky has ruled that the former county clerk of Rowan County, Kim Davis, discriminated against two same-sex couples back in 2015 when she refused to give them marriage licenses.   Davis said that she was refusing to issue marriage licenses to the two couples, a right that had been determined by the US Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision, because of her religious beliefs.

Kim Davis spent a few days in jail for refusing to carry out her duties as clerk of Rowan County, and while she was in jail an assistant clerk in her office issued the licenses and the couples were married.  But the newlyweds went to court and sued the clerk for having interfered with their right to get married.   This week, seven years later, a judge has finally ruled that Kim Davis did discriminate against them.  Now they will all be headed back to court to argue over damages.

Kim Davis, who had herself been married four times when all of the controversy arose, became a favorite of right-wing media during the anti-gay marriage tumult that followed the Supreme Court's decision that made the practice legal across the nation.  She said she could not in good conscience have her name on a document that permitted the marriage of a same-sex couple.  The Kentucky legislature soon passed a law removing county clerks' names from marriage licenses - and the voters of Rowan County voted Davis out of office in 2018.  After that her star quickly faded. 

Critics of Davis argued that if she had sincere religious opposition to a practice that was a part of her job, she should resign that position and look for a job that did not interfere with her religions beliefs.  Davis, however, opted to keep her position as county clerk (for as long as she could), while trying to impose her religious beliefs on others.  During her brief encounter with fame she appeared on numerous talk shows and at public events, and she received national and international press coverage.  

But all of that fame came with a cost, and another judge will soon decide exactly how much that cost will be.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.