Kentucky clerk gets time for gay marriage appeal

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- A Kentucky county clerk who objects to same-sex marriage was given room Monday to continue denying licenses to gays and lesbians as she takes her case to a federal appeals court.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is being sued by two gay couples, and U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her last week to issue them licenses despite her objections.

The judge reiterated Davis is not entitled to any more delays, but because "emotions are running high on both sides of this debate," he agreed to stay his Monday decision so she could take her case to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeal.

Attorneys on both sides disagreed with the implications. Dan Canon, representing the gay couples, said Davis remains under the judge's order. But Mat Staver, who represents Davis and is the founder of Florida-based Liberty Counsel, said the order essentially grants her request for more time.

Davis has refused to grant marriage licenses to anyone in Rowan County since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Kentucky's governor ordered her to issue the licenses immediately or resign. She told the judge after consulting God, she decided she couldn't comply.

The ruling imposes more delays on the efforts by two couples to get marriage licenses in the county where they live, work and pay taxes after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide in June.

Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses after the high court's ruling, saying it would violate her Christian beliefs to issue a license to a same-sex couple that has her name on it.

"It is comparable to forcing the religious objecting nurse to perform an abortion, the religious objecting company or non-profit to pay for abortions or abortion-related insurance coverage, the religious objecting non-combatant to fire on an enemy soldier, or the religious objecting state official to participate in or attend the execution of a convicted prisoner," Davis' attorney Jonathan Christman wrote in a motion asking Bunning to delay his order.

Stays of court orders are common to maintain the status quo pending an appeal, but in this case, the delay enables the continuation "of an unlawful policy," the plaintiffs' attorneys complained.

Davis wants Kentucky lawmakers to pass a law allowing county clerks to opt out of issuing marriage licenses for religious reasons. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who went around Kentucky's Democratic attorney general to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage in federal court, has declined to call a special session on the issue.

Davis faces fines and a possible jail sentence for contempt of court if she loses the lawsuit, but she can only be impeached from her $80,000 a year job by the state legislature, and lawmakers won't reconvene until January.