Posted on 04/15/2016 6:35:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed a bill Wednesday that removes the names and titles of county clerks from marriage licenses, giving legal "finality" to the religious accommodation that Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was looking for.
Davis, who made headlines when she spent over five days in jail last September for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses with her name and title on them because of her Christian beliefs, had called on the state's then-Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear to create a religious accommodation allowing her to drop her name and title from marriage certificates that her office issued.
The accommodation, however, was not provided until Bevin, the new Republican governor, issued an order in late December allowing Davis and other religious clerks to omit their names on marriage license forms.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other critics of the governor's order argued that any marriage license issued without a clerk's name and title would not be valid under state law.
But on Wednesday, Bevin announced that he has provided some "statutory finality to the marriage license dilemma" by signing off on a bill that removes names and titles from the state's marriage license forms all together.
"We now have a single form that accommodates all concerns. Everyone benefits from this common sense legislation," Bevin said in an statement. "There is no additional cost or work required by our county clerks. They are now able to fully follow the law without being forced to compromise their religious liberty."
Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel and the head of the legal team representing Davis, praised the move.
"To provide a license is to provide approval and places a legal authority behind the signature. We celebrate this legislative victory," Staver said in a statement. "County clerks are now able to fully follow the law without being forced to compromise their religious liberty."
"The First Amendment guarantees Kim and every American the free exercise of religion, even when they are working for the government," Staver added. "County clerks should not be forced to license something that is prohibited by their religious convictions."
When Davis became the center of the media spotlight for her refusal to allow her office to issue marriage licenses following the same-sex marriage Supreme Court ruling last June, many on the Left wrongly accused her of not being willing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in general.
Her objection, however, was not issuing the licenses but rather issuing licenses that had her name on them as the authorizing figure. After Bevin passed the executive order last December allowing her and other clerks to remove their names from marriage license forms, Davis told The Christian Post that was the accommodation she was looking for all along.
"It was the exact accommodation that I had been asking for from the very beginning," Davis said. "The prior governor, Gov. Beshear, could have done the exact same thing."
Davis asserted that other Kentucky laws, other than marriage laws, will need to be rewritten following the Supreme Court's ruling Obergefell v. Hodges.
"Our Kentucky marriage laws are obliterated due to the Obergefell ruling, so those all have to be reworked, revamped and rewritten," Davis continued. "Marriage is just the tip of the iceberg of how this Obergefell decision, this ruling, it affects not only marriage laws — it affects property law, it affects income tax law. It is just a plethora that it intertwines in and marriage is just the tip of it."
...governor beshear was busy eating his own doo-doo, and was unable or unwilling to be interrupted to provide a comment...
Stupidity.
Another issue where Trump sided with progressives.
John Stossel asked the other day, “Should a Jewish baker be required to bake a cake for a Nazi wedding?”
Similarly, but without a religious element, should a black baker be required to bake a cake for a KKK picnic?
Ask your liberal friends.
I remember a lot of Freepers who were saying she should have either issued the licenses or resign. I glad she stood up to the homo Nazis and I am glad Matt Bevin was elected governor. Too bad he wasn’t elected Senator. But the GOPe and certain private donors who will not be mentioned colluded to keep him out of Washington.
thanks Kim. you were right to fight. now you’ve established the principle, and drawn the line saying that no Christian has to endorse sinful behavior. period.
It is a nightmare that so many freepers are deceived into into supporting a guy, trump, who is so bad on this and other social issues. Cruz is the gold standard on this kind of thing. It is just so tragic that the Republican party is being destroyed from within by such a large plurality going with Trump.
>Cruz is the gold standard on this kind of thing.
Cruz lost the more high road when he stole votes from a fellow Christian in Iowa and since then he’s only gotten more and more in gutter like. The only thing Cruz is the gold stanard of is lies and pandering.
37% is not such a large plurality.
I thought she had already received that many months ago, when ex-candidate Gov. Huckabee was holding her raised fist in victory. I wish her luck. The Vatican official who invited and allowed Kim to see the Pope has ‘suddenly’ retired, so I hear.
Should a Jewish baker be forced to make a cake for a Nazi wedding? Good question!
Blame the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Conservatives warned that it would lead to job quotas. They were right. The Civil Rights Act (now called the Promiscuous Sexual Rights Act, or PSRA) is justifying assaults on our religious freedom and will ultimately destroy our churches.
One of the worst laws in history.
But HER office is still issuing these faux “marriage” licenses.
I would have held out until they killed me.
She received it months ago, but the governor signed it into law across the board - this is how I read it.
A pyrrhic victory, but that’s all the American people can ever expect now.
Hubert H. Humphrey of MN said he would “eat his hat” if his Civil Rights law, which he authored, would ever used for quotas. HHH may have been sincere; maybe not too.
Yes, a horrible law and horrible politicians
Humphrey’s promise ranks up there with Obama saying you can keep your health insurance plan.
Appalling
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