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Showing posts with the label United States federal judge

Kim Davis returns to work and pledges again not to sign gay ‘marriage’ licenses

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Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis returned to work and read from her handwritten statement just prior to opening the Clerk's office. She began by saying, "I love my Lord Jesus , I love all people, and I love my job. I want to continue to serve all three as I have tried to do until now." During parts of her statement, Kim Davis became emotional, especially when she explained that she had been placed in a position to violate her conscience, which she said she could not do. Kim Davis said that from the beginning she had asked for a reasonable accommodation to remove her name and authoritative title as the Clerk of Rowan County from the marriage licenses , a request that has been ignored or not acted upon by Governor Beshear or the court. She explained that she could not issue a license with her name and title affixed to it that authorizes a marriage that is contrary to God 's definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Because she could not viola...

‘It is a Heaven or Hell decision’: Why a Kentucky clerk won’t back down on marriage licenses

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English: Governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear at the Fancy Farm picnic in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ROWAN COUNTY, KY ,  -- Kim Davis , the embattled Christian county clerk, says that she has "no animosity toward anyone and harbor[s] no ill will" -- but nor will she violate "marriage and God's Word." In a statement released by Liberty Counsel , Davis -- who has appealed a lower court decision requiring her to give marriage licenses to gay couples --  said that to provide the licenses would be "to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage." "To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage , with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience," she said. "It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. For me it is a decision of obedience. I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will." Two p...

Christian clerk fights on as Sixth Circuit orders her to issue gay ‘marriage’ licenses

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A federal appeals court has ordered Christian clerk Kim Davis to provide same-sex “marriage” licenses, but she’s refusing to give in. Davis, a Democrat,  says that her Christian beliefs  will not allow her to issue licenses for same-sex “marriages.” Despite pressure from Democrat Gov. Steve Beshear ,  a lawsuit from the ACLU , and two federal court rulings, Davis has refused to issue any licenses while the matter is still working its way through the courts. However, the Sixth District Court of Appeals said Davis must issue the licenses. While critics say Davis must follow the law as a public employee, she says the First Amendment protects her decision even as a government worker. In addition to being sued by the ACLU, she has pro-actively taken her case to court.   Beshear told all government employees that "you can continue to have your own personal beliefs, but, you’re also taking an oath to fulfill the duties prescribed by law, and if you are at th...

Kentucky clerk defies order to issue gay ‘marriage’ licenses

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In defiance of a federal judge and the state’s governor, a Kentucky county clerk’s office continued to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples today, upsetting homosexuals and supporters of homosexual “marriage”. "I will say that people are cruel, they are cruel, these people are cruel,” David Ermold responded in tears, according to an ABC News   report . Ermold, who was denied a license to “marry” his male partner only hours after U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to comply with  Obergefell v. Hodges , used the refusal to allege discrimination for his sexual orientation. “This is how gay people are treated in this country,” Ermold stated. “This is what it's like. This is how it feels.” James Yates and William Smith Jr. were also turned away in Rowan County on Thursday, after having been refused a marriage license a month ago. They joined a group of protesters Thursday after their second denial. “I s...

‘State-sanctioned prejudice’: federal courts overturn marriage amendments in Mississippi and Arkansas

Two more states have had their voter-approved marriage protection laws overturned by federal judges, this time in Mississippi and Arkansas . In two separate rulings Tuesday, Judges Kristine Baker in Little Rock, Arkansas , and Carlton Reeves in Jackson, Mississippi, ruled that laws defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman violate homosexuals’ rights under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution .  Both judges are appointees of President Barack Obama . In the Arkansas decision, Baker quoted a previous court ruling in asserting that “times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.” Baker concluded that “by precluding same-sex couples from exercising their fundamental right to marry in Arkansas, by not recognizing valid same-sex...

Judge refuses to delay same-sex ‘marriage’ lawsuit in Wisconsin

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MADISON, WI ,  – A federal judge will  allow  a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex “marriage” to continue, over the objections of state officials. The state of Wisconsin had asked the court to delay proceedings pending the results of another case pertaining to domestic partnerships.  But U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb refused, saying she believes the domestic partnership case can only serve to boost gay couples’ legal prospects, so waiting on the results is pointless. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb “Abstaining or staying the case would serve no purpose but to delay the case,” Crabb wrote. “As the [homosexual] plaintiffs point out, if the Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds the domestic partnership law , nothing changes.  If the court invalidates the law, the only effect is to make the deprivation imposed on plaintiffs by [the marriage amendment] more severe. Thus, it is difficult to envision any scenario in w...

Three more counties to begin issuing same-sex ‘marriage’ licenses before legally allowed in Illinois

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SPRINGFIELD, IL , March 6, 2014  – At the urging of the state attorney general, clerks in three Illinois counties have announced they will begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples months before they are allowed to by law. The state may not issue legal marriage certificates to same-sex couples until June 1 under a new law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. But an Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge , Sharon Johnson Coleman, ruled on February 21 that  Cook County could begin legally recognizing gay unions at once , because homosexuals had “already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry.” Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan Although the ruling applied only to Cook County, State Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote a letter encouraging all county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at once. Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten, a Republican, announced that he will comply, saying what is true for one count...

Kentucky must recognize foreign gay ‘marriages’ at once, state AG may not defend law

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FRANKFORT, KY , February 27, 2014 – A federal judge refused to grant a stay to his ruling that Kentucky must recognize same-sex “marriages” conducted in other states, or foreign countries. That means the traditional, religious state must treat such unions as  bona fide  “marriages” at once. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II   made the initial ruling on February 12 . On Thursday, he issued a final order striking down parts of a state law and a state constitutional marriage amendment supported by a wide majority of the voters. Judge John G. Heyburn II In 2004, 75 percent of the state's electorate approved a marriage protection amendment. Heyburn ruled that the measures “deny validly married same-sex couples equal recognition and benefits under Kentucky and federal law, those laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution , and they are void and unenforceable." A statewide  Bluegrass P...

Gay couples can ‘marry’ before law takes effect, Obama-appointed judge rules

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CHICAGO, February 24, 2014 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has ruled that homosexuals in Chicago can get “married” starting immediately – even though the state law recognizing same-sex “marriage” has not yet gone into effect. The bill creating same-sex “marriage” in Illinois , which proponents dubbed the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act,” does not provide for homosexual nuptials to be recognized until June 1. U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, an Obama appointee But U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said she decided to allow homosexual couples to obtain marriage licenses at once, because there had been no legal objection in her court and homosexuals had “already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry.” Another federal judge ruled last year that homosexuals who had medical conditions that would likely allow them to die could receive a marriage license before the law had formally been c...