Clerks must respect gay marriage ruling
August 23, 2015
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how ridiculous or horrendous it might be. Many Kentuckians still believe that same-sex marriage is immoral and that the Supreme Court was wrong to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, and they have a right to that opinion.
But they don’t have a right to get a job as a public official and then blatantly disregard a ruling that came from the highest law in the land, which is what Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is doing despite a federal judge ruling she must obey the law.
When the Supreme Court made the landmark decision in June, push back was inevitable. After all, nationwide support for same-sex marriage just passed the 50 percent mark four years ago.
And yet, it’s still hard to accept that a county clerk in our state would refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples who now have every legal right to have their marriages recognized. This is no longer an issue of one’s personal opinion. This is a matter of obeying the law.
Davis has gone so far as to refuse granting marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight, claiming her religious beliefs are being violated. Anyone who has minimal knowledge of the law will say that she has no case, and that she is a public official obligated to do her job and set her personal beliefs aside.
While a Bluegrass Poll found that a majority of Kentuckians disagree with the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling, 38 percent of respondents said county clerks should be removed from office for refusing to issue licenses and 16 percent said the duty should be transferred to a state agency.
Daniel Kemp, spokesman for Attorney General Jack Conway, wrote an email to the Courier-Journal in Louisville that said the Supreme Court “issued the final word on this issue, and Jack believes it’s time to move forward because the good-paying jobs are going to states with policies of inclusivity.”
The top law enforcer in the state understands why this decision is good for Kentucky. It’s time to get the rest of Kentucky on the same page as the rest of the progressive world.
What this case tells us is that even though federal law now says same-sex marriage is legal, it’s clearly going to take more time to convince a good portion of America to accept that there is no logical reason to prevent two people who love each other from marrying.
Studies show children of same-sex couples fare just as well as having two parents of the opposite sex. Same-sex couples have a lower divorce rate than their straight counterparts, suggesting they have more respect for the sanctity of marriage than heterosexual couples do.
And yes, the Bible calls homosexuality an abomination. Jesus never uttered a sentence about homosexuality, but spoke numerous times about the evil of divorce, which is how nearly half of American marriages end. It also condemns eating shellfish, but I don’t see any protesters setting up camp outside Long John Silver’s.
Detractors like Davis have logic, common decency and the law all going against their favor. Why not accept the inevitability of same-sex marriage being universally accepted in our culture and jump on the right side of history while they still can?
Cheyene Miller is the managing editor of the Kentucky Kernel.
