Kentucky Senate and governor take up slack after AG abandons defense of marriage
FRANKFORT, KY , March 18, 2014 – Kentucky is shaping up to be new territory in the fight for marriage. On March 4, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway , a Democrat , said that he would not appeal District Judge John Heyburn 's decision that the state should accept the “marriages” of four couples who were “wedded” in other states but live in Kentucky. This week, the state's governor formally appealed the decision to the 6 th Circuit Court , days after hiring a private law firm to defend a state statute and a constitutional amendment , both defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear Gov. Steve Beshear, who is a Democrat, disagreed sharply with the decision of Conway to not defend the state's 1998 law and 2004 constitutional amendment. He has a contract to pay as much as $100,000 to the law firm. Conway, who said he could not in good conscience defend the state law, said he believed “we cannot waste the resources of