Another court has denied this anti-gay clerk’s request to discriminate
Adamantly homophobic Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has had yet another request to be allowed to discriminate against gays denied.
Davis returned to work on Monday after a stint in jail for contempt of court, after she continually declined to obey court orders instructing her to stop discriminating.
She refused deals which would have got her out of jail, and which only required her not to interfere with her deputies, who were separately ordered to issue the licences.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said Davis “has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” in her legal bid to be allowed to stop issuing marriage licences to gay couples.
Davis has sued the Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, claiming that he should not have instructed clerks to abide by the Supreme Court ruling that marriage is a constitutional right for all couples, straight or gay.
While the appeals court rejected her request, it did not throw out the case entirely, as requested by Beshear.
Davis, who, returning to work on Monday, said she would not authorise her deputies to issue same-sex marriage licences.
After spending six days in jail for contempt of court after refusing to obey several orders instructing her to stop discriminating against gay couples, returns to work at Rowan County today.
She faced a challenge, however, if she wants to stop her deputies from issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples, as Brian Mason, one of the deputies, who have been ordered to issue them in Davis’ absence, said he would ignore her if she told him not to issue licences to gay couples.
She gave a garbled speech outside the courthouse, saying she would not authorise her deputies to issue the licences, and that she would not allow them to, but said she would not begrudge them if they did, in order to avoid jail.
A lesbian couple married today despite Davis’ threats. The clerk reportedly stayed out of sight, but her supporters jeered at the couple as they applied for their licence.
