Loathsome Bigot Thinks He's A Christian Martyr

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear met Thursday with a county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Casey County Clerk Casey Davis is among the two Kentucky clerks who have pledged to defy the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down state bans on gay marriage. Both claim that issuing such licenses would violate their faith. Kentucky was directly involved in the case.

“This morning, I advised Mr. Davis that I respect his right to his own personal beliefs regarding same-sex marriages,” Bashear said in a written statement. “However, when he was elected, he took a constitutional oath to uphold the United States Constitution. According to the United States Supreme Court, the Constitution now requires that governmental officials in Kentucky and elsewhere must recognize same-sex marriages as valid and allow them to take place. One of Mr. Davis’ duties as county court clerk is to issue marriage licenses, and the Supreme Court now says that the United States Constitution requires those marriage licenses to be issued regardless of gender. Mr. Davis’ own county attorney has advised him that his oath requires him to do so.”

“While there are two or three county court clerks still refusing to perform their duties, the rest of the county court clerks are complying with the law regardless of their personal beliefs. The courts and the voters will deal appropriately with the rest.”

According to the AP, Davis, who is elected, said after the meeting that he will go to jail first.

“If that's what it takes for me to express the freedom of religion that I believe I was born with, I'm willing to do that,” Davis told reporters, his wife by his side.

Earlier this week, Lawrence County Clerk Chris Jobe, president of the Kentucky County Clerk's Association, announced that 57 clerks had signed a letter to Beshear asking him to call a special legislative session to approve legislation protecting officials who object to marriage equality. But Beshear's office said Thursday that it has only received three such letters.

“I will not be calling any special session on this topic and costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars doing so,” Beshear said. “Any proposal about the process of issuing marriage licenses that meets the standards of the Supreme Court ruling should be carefully thought out and could be considered in the regular session in 2016.”

Davis insisted Thursday that he would not resign, making him a likely subject of a lawsuit.