Showing posts with label ashland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ashland. Show all posts

Friday, September 4, 2015

While Conservatives Howl, Gay Marriage Happens in Kentucky

photo 2dec8def-9068-4d74-9660-36cfe79f2a61.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Held for Contempt of Court
Love Wins: Gay Marriage Upheld by Supreme Court
Republicans React to Gay Marriage Ruling
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Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis went to jail yesterday for refusing to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples, but today was a new day in Rowan County. The deputy clerks stepped up and did their jobs, leaving religious conservatives with nothing to do but howl.


From NPR via WFPL:
...Yates and Smith walked up to Deputy Clerk Brian Mason.
Mason was all business. He checked their licenses, asked them if they were related, took their $35 and, in about five minutes, handed them an envelope and said, "Congratulations."
Yates and Smith had become the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license from Rowan County.
They exited to chants of "Love has won. Love has won."
"I don't want her in jail," Yates said of Davis. "No one wanted her in jail. We just wanted the licenses given out. This isn't a blessing. It's an official license."

Clerk Kim Davis's attorney, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, immediately announced that any new licenses are invalid. Of course, he is wrong, since Judge Dunning ordered her under deputies to get back to work or face contempt charges themselves.

From WFPL
“They are not being issued under the authority of Rowan County and they’re not worth the paper that they’re written on,” said Mat Staver, chair of Liberty Counsel, the non-profit law firm that is representing Davis.
Sam Marcosson, a law professor for the University of Louisville, said the marriage licenses are valid because Davis had no authority to stop issuing them in the first place.
“Since she’s acting contrary to her legal duties and without authority any actions she would take to block the marriage licenses would be invalid,” he said.











Oh, the bitching and moaning of the religious right - starting with Davis's attorney, who blew up at Chris Hayes for asking hard questions when all he really wanted to do is bash gay marriage:



Hayes: Mr. Staver, how is the fundraising going?

Staver: Why don't you ask the ACLU?

Hayes: They're not standing in front of me but I'd be happy to. I think they're doing quite well.

Staver: But you never asked that question of the ACLU. Why don't you ask that of the ACLU? Why don't you ask the people who represented O.J. Simpson, where they were getting their money?

Hayes: Mr. Staver --

Staver: It's absolutely irrelevant to the issue-- the issue is--

Hayes: Mr. Staver -- The issue is there's a woman in prison--

Staver: --accommodate her religious conscience and religious freedom. You may not want to address that, but--

Hayes: Mr. Staver, there are allies of yours - they think you're taking Kim Davis for a ride and basically raising money off her plight. So I'm just asking you the question. How are you doing on fundraising this week?

 Staver: Anyone who asks that question does not know Kim Davis. Kim Davis has a strong conviction and conscience--

 Hayes: OK

 Staver: --She contacted us for representation. We are representing her. I can tell you we are putting a whole lot more money into the cost and expenses than we would ever get from this case. This was never about fundraising. It's conscience. If you can't get that simple idea that we've got freedom of religion and conscience rights. And the question is not whether she's sincere, not whether there's a collusion, but is there a reasonable way to accommodate her--

Hayes: No, no, the question is--

Staver: The answer is, yes there is.

Hayes: No, the question is, with all due respect, the question is - is there a limiting condition? You failed to give me one. Mr. Staver, thank you very much.

Staver: No, the question is--

Hayes: And very good luck--

Staver: whether they can--

Hayes: Thank you for joining us.






National Review:




LOL - Kim Davis's husband calls the judge a "butt."



Mike Huckabee:



Rand Paul:



Todd Starnes of Fox News:










Matt Barber of The Blaze:











Erick Erickson of Red State/FoxNews:











Ben Shapiro of Breitbart (needs translation)







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Thursday, September 3, 2015

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Held in Contempt of Court

photo KimDavisMugShot.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Love Wins: Gay Marriage Upheld by Supreme Court
Republicans React to Gay Marriage Ruling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

County Clerk Kim Davis of Rowan County, Kentucky, has been pitching a fit about the Supreme Court gay marriage act now for months. As a result, many couples, both gay and straight, who wanted to get married in the county where they live and pay taxes have been unable to get a license. As details have emerged about her own private life, she has been exposed as a royal hypocrite:







Davis cannot be fired because she is an elected official, and can only be removed by legislative impeachment. Unfortunately the Kentucky Legislature is out of session until January and Democratic Governor Steve Beshear has decided not to waste taxpayer money on a special session, since the Legislature has to change many laws to be in compliance with the SCOTUS ruling:

From Kentucky Courier-Journal:
"The General Assembly will convene in just four months and can make any statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money calling a special session of the General Assembly when 117 and 120 county clerks are doing their jobs."

Several straight and gay couples who had been turned away by Ms. Davis sued to put pressure on her to comply. The attorneys of Davis, paid goons from the so-called conservative "Liberty Counsel," appealed to the Supreme Court to save her, but were turned down flat. Why? Because their arguments have no standing under the law, so they write about Ms. Davis's feelings and opinions as if they matter more than any other citizen in Rowan County or the state of Kentucky. Basically, they are just using Davis to rabble rouse the far-right evangelicals who give money to groups like . . . Liberty Counsel. It's a money-makin' deal. God told them to do it, I guess. Oh, and they really, really hate "The Gay."










At that point a Federal Judge ordered Ms. Davis and her staff into court in Ashland, KY, and it all hit the fan today. There was chaos outside the Federal Courthouse, lots of shouting and sign-waving from both sides:





Judge Dunning decided not to seek monetary fines from Davis because he knew that religious groups would just continue paying them. Instead, after asking if she would comply and she refused, he ordered her into "indefinite" custody of Federal Marshalls. Outside the courthouse, those in favor of equality cheered.



Later in the day, five deputy clerks told the judge they would be willing to give licenses to gay couples, except for one - Davis's son - who for some reason was not charged with contempt of court (I would have charged him!). Davis was asked back into court, but she refused and merely sent her attorney to tell the judge she would not comply and if released she would "interfere" with marriage licenses. So Judge Dunning proceeded with contempt charges. Later she was booked and a mug shot taken. Her attorneys are trying something to get her out, but I doubt if it will work.

She wanted to be a martyr, so she's a martyr. She's also probably lost a plum $80,000/year job that is rare as hen's teeth in Rowan County, Kentucky. And she's caused everyone who works there distress and legal fees, for which they will not thank her. The religious right will scream and wail "Christian Persecution" (Huckabee and Cruz, for instance). The Legislature may try to save her, but hey - she can always work for Hobby Lobby or Chick-Fil-A, right?










































































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