Attorneys for Rowan
County Clerk Kim Davis officially appealed the ruling to the 6th Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals on Sunday. The three page motion does not include arguments as
to why Davis should be released but amends Davis' earlier appeal of the judge's
order.
Davis objects to
same-sex marriage for religious reasons and stopped issuing all marriage
licenses in June after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage
nationwide. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her. U.S. District
Judge David Bunning ordered Davis to issue the licenses and the Supreme Court
upheld his ruling.
But Davis still refused
to do it, saying she could not betray her conscience.
Thursday, Bunning ruled
Davis was in contempt of court for disobeying his order and sent her to jail.
Her deputy clerks then issued marriage licenses to gay couples Friday with
Davis behind bars.
"Civil rights are
civil rights and they are not subject to belief," said James Yates, who
got a marriage license on Friday after having been denied five times
previously.
Mat Staver, one of
Davis' attorneys, said the marriage licenses issued Friday are "not worth
the paper they are written on" because Davis refused to authorize them.
But Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins says the licenses are valid. Bunning
said he did not know if the licenses were valid but ordered them issued anyway.
Bunning indicated Davis
will be in jail at least a week. She could stay longer if she continues to not
obey the judge's order. Bunning had offered to release Davis from jail if she
promised not to interfere with her deputy clerks as they issued the licenses.
But Davis refused.
Staver called the
contempt hearing "a charade" saying that Bunning had his mind made up
before the hearing began.
Kentucky law requires
marriage licenses be issued under the authority of the elected county clerk.
Davis views issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a stamp of
approval of something she believes is a sin. She has said she will not issue
marriage licenses until the state legislature changes the law so the licenses
can be issued under someone else's authority.
The state legislature is
not scheduled to meet again until January and Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has
refused to call a special session. Davis has refused to resign her
$80,000-a-year job. As an elected official the only way she could lose her job
is to lose an election or have the state legislature impeach her, which is
unlikely given the conservative nature of the state General Assembly.
"She's not going to
resign, she's not going to sacrifice her conscience, so she's doing what Martin
Luther King Jr. wrote about in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, which is to
pay the consequences for her decision," Staver said.
Davis' plight has
reignited the gay marriage debate and the limits of religious freedom. Her
imprisonment has inspired spirited protests from both sides in this small
eastern Kentucky community known mostly as the home to Morehead State
University.
Saturday, about 300
people rallied in support of Davis at the Carter County Detention Center where
she is being held. Another rally is scheduled for Tuesday with Republican
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Comments
The
Supreme Court decision on gay marriage is an opinion. In order for gay marriage to become law, the
Congress must pass the law.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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