Four Kentucky couples are suing a clerk who is refusing to issue gay-marriage licenses - or any marriage licenses at all - following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples have a legal right to marry.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis states that her Christian beliefs prevented her from complying with the decision, so she decided to issue no more marriage licenses to any couple, gay or straight, AP reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a federal lawsuit against Rowan County on behalf of two homosexual and two heterosexual couples. All of them were turned down when they tried to get marriage licenses from Davis' office this week, according to FOX News.
"We certainly respect the religious beliefs and whatever conscientious choices these clerks make, but it can't infringe on their job duties and it can't infringe on the constitutional rights of the citizens that they're there to serve," said attorney Dan Canon, one of the lawyers who is representing the four couples.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, had defended the state's ban on same-sex marriage, but after the high court's ruling on June 26, he issued an executive order telling all state agencies and clerks to comply with it, according to USA Today.
Canon states that by denying marriage licenses to all couples, county clerks are also discriminating against straight residents seeking to wed.
"These clerks are flagrantly disobeying not only the opinion of the Supreme Court, but also the executive order issued by Steve Beshear," he said.
Davis is among a handful of judges and clerks across the south, like the clerk in Denton County and another in Grenada County, who have taken issue with the Supreme Court's ruling.
