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Kentucky Clerk Has Until Monday To Justify Refusal Of Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

A federal judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to start issuing licenses and to stop "openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religious convictions at the expense of others."
James Yates, left, and William Smith Jr. speak with Rowan County Judge Executive Walter Blevins, right, in an attempt to obtain a marriage license in Morehead, Kentucky, Thursday, August 13, 2015. (Timothy D. EasleyAP Photo)

A US federal judge has given Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis a deadline to justify her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples after rejecting her previous attempt to get a religious exemption.

After the Supreme Court ruling in June that legalized gay marriage, Davis used her Christianity to justify her refusal to dole out same-sex marriage licenses in the town of Morehead. Falling in line with Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's order that the state's clerks must issue licenses following the high-court ruling, US District Judge David L. Bunning shut down Davis' initial claims.

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Related: Kentucky Governor to County Clerk: Start Issuing Marriage Licenses or Resign

The Rowan county clerk, however, continued to deny licenses to same-sex couples, specifically refusing attempts by two separate couples.

Now, Davis has until Monday, August 17, to persuade the federal judge to hold off on his order that she issue the licenses. Bunning set the deadline in a ruling on Wednesday, where he noted that Davis could have violated the Constitution with her actions as a result of "openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religious convictions at the expenses of others."

"Davis remains free to practice her Apostolic Christian beliefs," Bunning wrote. "She may continue to attend church twice a week, participate in Bible Study and minister to female inmates at the Rowan County Jail. She is even free to believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, as many Americans do. However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County Clerk."

Nathan Davis — another clerk in Davis' office who would not say whether he was related to Kim Davis — told the Associated Press that their lawyers had advised them to keep denying same-sex marriage licenses. The clerk's office for the eastern Kentucky town of 23,000 people is represented by Liberty Counsel, a law firm focused on Christian religious liberties. Liberty Counsel has appealed Bunning's ruling.

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"Kim Davis is just an example of what's going to be happening not only to other clerks but to other people who are going to be confronted with this issue and we think that this is a serious matter that needs to be decided by a higher court, even the Supreme Court," Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver told the AP.

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To date, 17 clerks have sent letters to the governor's office requesting a meeting for resolving the issue of clerk's wanting religious accommodations in relation to giving same-sex marriage licenses. According to the AP, half of the clerks who sent letters to Beshear said that despite their faith-based objections to same-sex marriages, they had been giving out licenses to these couples, or would if they were asked. The Kentucky Clerks Association said 60 clerks in total — out of 120 in the state — said they were planning to send letters to the governor.

Kentucky and Rowan County are not the only parts of the country dealing with clerk objections to issuing same-sex marriage licenses. In Alabama, couples were forced to search for judges in different parts of the state willing to provide wedding licenses after local probate judges stopped administering them. Officials in two counties in the state announced plans to stop issuing marriage licenses altogether in June after the Supreme Court ruling, again citing Christian beliefs.

Federal judge Ginny Granade, who initially struck down the state's ban, reaffirmed this stance after the justices' decision. She ordered that Alabama probate judges who hand out marriage licenses would have to also issue them for same-sex couples.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related: Indiana's 'Religious Freedom' Law Takes Effect as LGBT Activists Call for Protection from Discrimination