Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:12 pm
With Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis behind bars, same sex couples began obtaining marriage licenses in earnest on Friday. William Smith, Jr. and James Yates, a gay couple who had been refused licenses and turned away four times by Davis, filed their filing fee and became the first gay couple in the county to get a marriage license. They were followed shortly thereafter by a second same-sex couple.
With Davis in jail on contempt of court charges, deputy clerk Brian Mason issued the licenses politely, congratulating the couples with a friendly handshake. In Rowan County, the simple act of doing his job appeared almost heroic under the circumstances.
Outside the courthouse, competing groups clashed for attention with same-sex marriage supporters proclaiming “Love won!”, while one gay marriage opponent yelled versus from the Bible referencing Sodom and Gomorrah. Others stood silently.
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Kim Davis’ husband, Joe Davis spoke to reporters on the scene, insisting that his wife will continue to defy the law, stating:
She will stay in there for however long it takes. She will not back down. She’ll never resign. Nope.
We don’t hate nobody. We just want the same rights they have. They say, ‘We’re gonna make you accept us whether you want to or not.’ Well, we don’t want all this forced on us.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.