Kim Davis may be the face of the marriage resistance - but she’s not the only clerk fighting
Kim Davis isn't the only county clerk refusing to lend her name
as an elected official to the U.S. Supreme Court's edict imposing homosexual
"marriage" on the nation. Others are doing so without the media
display, being sued, or ending up
in jail.
A total of three Kentucky clerks have refused to
issue "marriage" licenses to same-sex couples, along with nine Alabama
counties, according to NBC News.
Davis has been made the face of resistance to judicial
tyranny. None of these others has.
Davis was released
from jail Tuesday
after being incarcerated on a contempt of court charge last week, for declining
based upon her religious beliefs to issue marriage licenses to same-sex
couples.
Davis contended that putting her name as county clerk on the
licenses was synonymous with her giving approval. She had refused to issue
licenses to opposite-sex couples as well, so as to not discriminate against
anyone.
Last Friday, the day after Davis was arrested, staff in her
office began issuing marriage licenses, which Davis contended were invalid
without her signature as county clerk.
GOP presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee had scheduled a September 8 rally for Davis while she was in jail. Her release
notwithstanding, the rally took place at the Carter County Detention Center in
Grayson, Kentucky.
Davis, visibly moved by her supporters at the rally, spoke only
briefly.
"Thank you all so much," she said. "I love you
all so much."Davis's release from jail this week was contingent on her not
interfering "in any way" with the issuance of marriage licenses to
same-sex couples.
Her attorney was asked upon her discharge whether she would defy
the court or authorize her clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex
couples, the Courier-Journal reported.
"Kim Davis will not violate her conscience," Liberty
Counsel's Mat Staver said. "Kim Davis cannot, and will not, violate her
conscience."
Davis's status as a symbol of religious freedom may have come
about simply by the luck of the draw, because her county happened to be where
someone decided to make an example of a clerk.
In July, the Kentucky ACLU and the Fairness Campaign, a pro-LGBT
group out of Louisville, "cast a net" in counties across the state
that denied licenses, according to a report from The Guardian.
"But the only counties where plaintiffs responded to the
request were in Rowan County," said Fairness Campaign Director Chris
Hartman. "Any of these county clerks could have become Kim Davis. It just
so happened Kim Davis became Kim Davis."
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
which filed the suit against Davis, said the ACLU currently has no plans to
pursue legal action against the other two Kentucky county clerks refusing to
issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"We're focused on the Rowan County case at this
time," Allison Steinberg said.
Whitley County clerk Kay Schwartz said she has not been
approached to issue a same-sex license, according to NBC. Schwartz told the State-Journal she's been bullied by people
from outside her county because of her stance.
"There's a law against bullying and that's what this has
turned into," Schwartz said. "I've had a couple of calls and when
I've looked those people up they didn't even live in my county."
"If they had come to my county they would have driven past
52 counties that were issuing [marriage licenses], she continued. "It's
nothing but bullying."
The calls to her office came from people living in Oldham and
Marion Counties, elsewhere in Kentucky, Schwartz said. Another call came from
Tennessee.
"They call you names, say they are going to take your
livelihood," she recounted. "The males were very rude. I feel sorry
that they would enjoy picking on someone when they can get what they want
anywhere in the state of Kentucky, just about, or Tennessee or the surrounding
states. They choose just two or three people to pick on."
"Well, Kim's been sued," stated Casey County clerk
Casey Davis (no relation to Kim). "Kay nor I have been."
Casey Davis has gotten threats over the phone for turning down
homosexual couples' marriage license requests, but so far there has been no
threat of legal action.
"I imagine it's possible," Casey Davis said. "I
know that there is a very real possibility, and if it comes, we'll deal with
that when it comes."
His approach has been the same as Kim Davis's: to decline
issuing any marriage licenses at all.
Casey Davis biked more than 400 miles across Kentucky last week
to show support for his Rowan County counterpart.
"I'm actually [biking] across the state to show support to
[Kim Davis] and to raise awareness of what's going on with this woman,"
Casey Davis said.
"She's standing for God like she thinks she should and I
think she should," he continued. "I don't think a person should be
threatened to be fined or threatened to go to jail because they're
Christian."
Neither Casey Davis nor Schwartz plans to change his or her mind
on the matter or to relent to pressure to go against their conscience, even if
there's the threat of being sued.
"I started out with nothing, and I'm surely gonna leave
with nothing," Casey Davis said. "So that's not a threat to me."
"Why take away the majority's right to give the minority
their rights?" said Schwartz. "The state of Kentucky, 74.5 percent
voted for what they wanted, as did most of the nation. The people have spoken,
and they have told the government what they want, but yet that didn't seem to
matter as long as they make a few people happy."
