UPDATE (July 2nd, 10:40 PM PST): Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is currently being sued by four Kentucky couples for refusing to issue marriage licenses to both gay and straight couples. Warren County Attorney Ann Milliken, president of the Kentucky County Attorneys Association, responded defiant clerks who refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples could be charged with official misconduct, which is punishable by up to a year in jail.
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Last Friday (June 26), a divided Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry nationwide. For the gay community, this day was a historic moment, and a culmination of decades of litigation and activism since the '70s, when Jack Baker and Michael McConnell were refused a marriage license.
However, many conservatives, like Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, maintain a stance of defiance, refusing to issue a license to anyone, whether gay or straight.
"It's a deep-rooted conviction; my conscience won't allow me to do that," said Davis to the Associated Press. "It goes against everything I hold dear, everything sacred in my life."
With the establishment of a new civil right, allowing same-sex couples to marry, clerks in Arkansas and Mississippi have chosen to resign, like Grenada County Clerk Linda Barnette, who wrote in her resignation letter that she is a "follower of Christ" and chooses "to obey God rather than man."
Others, however, have chosen to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in fear of being removed from office, or going to jail, like Lawrence County Clerk Chris Jobe, who is also president of the Kentucky County Clerks Association.
In response to Davis' adamant refusal to issue marriage licenses, protestors have gathered on the front lawn of the clerk's office, waving rainbow flags, carrying signs with phrases such as, "You don't own marriage," and chanting, "Do your job," and "Love must win." However, Davis continues to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples.
Whether she will eventually quit her job is uncertain. But while many oppose Davis' actions, some have shown support, like Dennis Buschman, who argued, "Our country is on the wrong path, we as a people no longer exalt God."
Chief Justice Roberts, in his dissent, responded to the ruling that "people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority today." Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., further commented that this ruling "will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy."
Brandon Cho is a volunteer student writer from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
