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Kentucky clerk seeks Supreme Court help to deny gay marriage licenses

By REUTERS

AUGUST 29, 2015 02:04

A Kentucky county clerk asked a Supreme Court justice on Friday for an emergency order that would allow the clerk to deny marriage licenses for same-sex couples, a move coming two days after a federal appeals court rejected her request.

In a related move, a federal court judge refused to extend a stay beyond its Aug. 31 limit that allowed Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples as she argues that her religious beliefs override her duties as a public servant.

On Wednesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Davis' office could not decline to issue licenses given that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalized gay marriage nationwide. The Rowan County clerk has not issued any marriage licenses since the court's June ruling.

Davis contends issuing the licenses goes against her deeply held religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

If forced to approve marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, the "searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience," Davis' lawyers said in their request to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

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