Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Jailed After Refusing to Issue Marriage Licenses to Same-Sex Couples
Conviction of conscience is our right as U.S. Citizens in order to influence our Government into governing according to “our” beliefs, the beliefs of every American Citizen. In this case, the issue is very divided among us.
Although I believe in the right to marry for everyone, I also believe in living free and being able to assert “Freedom of Speech” and Religion in this Country. As Americans we have the right to freedom of Religion, and religious liberty as well as “Freedom of Speech“. However, per wiki, “legal systems, and society at large, recognize limits on the freedom of speech, particularly when freedom of speech conflicts with other values or rights.”
So there you have it in a nutshell. The law which would apply in Kim Davis’ dilemma to try to force her into something she does not believe in, even though it was a known fact that she did not believe in “Gay Marriage” when she was “elected” by “the people” of Rowan County Kentucky. The voter’s of Rowan County elected her based upon her personal and political beliefs at the time of her election.
Davis served as Rowan County chief deputy clerk, reporting to her mother, Jean W. Bailey, for 24 years.
As shown below she won the general election with 3,909 votes. The population was 6,845 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census.
Where were all the voter’s at? Only half of them have spoken.
Evidently the people of Rowan County wanted her to be in office because 3,909 people elected Kim Davis and now the “people” are complaining about how she Is doing her job.
Rowan County 100% Reporting
Rowan County, Kentucky County Clerk Democratic primary, 2014:
Democratic
Kim Davis
1,817
46.2%
Democratic
Elwood Caudill, Jr.
1,794
45.6%
Democratic
Charlotte Combess
322
8.2%
Rowan County, Kentucky County Clerk general election, 2014
Democratic
Kim Davis
3,909
53.2%
Republican
John C. Cox
3,444
46.8%
At the time of her election, Davis told the Morehead News,
“My words can never express the appreciation but I promise to each and every one that I will be the very best working clerk that I can be and will be a good steward of their tax dollars and follow the statutes of this office to the letter.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said the move would set a bad precedent.
“I think it’s absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty,”
This case has attracted not only State and National but international news as well. As an Activist, and after reviewing the Rowan County Kentucky issue surrounding the “Kim Davis” situation again, in all conscience , I must take her side. She was elected into the office at a time when gay marriage was illegal and still is according to the Kentucky Constitution. She was elected in a conservative State in 2014.
Decided on June 26, 2015 by a Federal case, Obergefell overturned Baker and requires all states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to recognize same-sex marriages validly performed in other jurisdictions. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015).
Per the Rowan County website Kim Davis
“As county clerk I am responsible for providing many services to the people of Rowan county. These duties include general categories of clerical duties of the fiscal court: issuing and registering, recording and keeping various legal records, registering and purging voter rolls, and conducting election duties and tax duties.”
Prior to her arrest, Kim Davis said the following on Thursday,
“God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” Davis told the judge before she was taken away by a U.S. marshal. “You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”
After Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was taken into federal custody Thursday for repeatedly refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, every deputy clerk but Davis’ son have said they would grant licenses.
Because she is an elected official, Davis, a Democrat, can’t be fired from the position for refusing to comply with the court order. If she is found guilty of misconduct, Davis could be imprisoned for up to a year, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. The state legislature can also vote to impeach her, the paper noted, though that seems unlikely since most Kentucky voters oppose same-sex marriage.
There has been an honest and compliable offer to append the situation. Per ABC news,
“Kim Davis thinks she has a solution to her problem.
The Kentucky county clerk, jailed for failing to follow a judge’s orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, wants her name removed from the marriage certificates, her attorney Matthew Staver told ABC News. “
On September 3, the Anti-Defamation League commented:
No one should question or challenge Ms. Davis’s religious beliefs.
It is therefore my opinion that because she was elected in a time when same sex marriage was illegal in Kentucky and there was no reason for her to believe at the time that same sex marriage would be legal in Kentucky during her reign as County Clerk,
…the fact that she is an elected County Clerk which was put into office by the people of Rowan County,
…That EVERYONE should have a right to express their religious beliefs and right to “Free Speech”,
…and that the no one should have to succumb to a Federal law which goes against their religious or free speech beliefs, or against their Constitutional rights as Citizens of this Country,
I believe that she should be freed immediately and her name REMOVED from the marriage license application in Rowan County Kentucky in order to preserve her personal rights as a Citizen.
As well this will ascertain the rights of the same sex couples to marry which is according to Federal law, yet also preserves HER right to believe otherwise.
As long as her name remains on the marriage licenses it is possible that those who have married under her name in Rowan County may not have a valid marriage license per the Federal Judge.
We need to protect our Constitutional rights as well as States rights, as well as conforming to Federal law. This is how I agree that it can be accomplished without doing no harm to anyone involved.
It is interesting to note that the Kentucky Constitution defines Marriage as “one man” and “one woman” only.
In the not so distant future, if we allow our State Constitutions to be preempted by Federal law, the State’s will loose all rights and become like “Counties” instead of “States”. Are we going to cave in to the Federal Government and let that happen?
Kentucky is one of only four “Commonwealth States”. This designation, which has no legal meaning, emphasizes that they have a “government based on the common consent of the people”
Is the Kentucky Commonwealth nothing more than a “nomenclature“?
Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1[1] of 2004, is an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution that makes it unconstitutional for the state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions.
The referendum was approved by 75% of the voters.
The voter’s have spoken.
smkrider
When Government Fails In Kentucky 