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Gay couples ask judge to hold clerk in contempt

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[h=4]Gay couples ask judge to hold clerk in contempt[/h]Kentucky county official refused again Tuesday to issue marriage licenses.

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David Moore and David Ermold confronted Rowan Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue the license. Michael Wynn, The C-J


Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, right, talks with David Moore following her office's refusal to issue marriage licenses at the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead, Ky., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015.(Photo: Timothy D. Easley, AP)


MOREHEAD, Ky. —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Lawyers asked a federal judge to hold a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>county clerk here in contempt of court Tuesday after she<span style="color: Red;">*</span>defied the Supreme Court<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and again refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
The Supreme Court refused Monday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to allow<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ office to deny the licenses because of her religious beliefs. However, on Tuesday morning, she denied the licenses to at least four couples.
David Moore and his partner, David Ermold, confronted Davis over the clerk's counter as crowd of supporters shouted for Davis to do her job.
"This is overwhelming. It feels ridiculous," Moore said after being refused. "Who has to go through this to get married? This is 2015. This is America. This is what we pay taxes for — to be treated like this, to be discriminated against?"
USA TODAY
Supreme Court says Kentucky clerk can't deny same-sex marriage licenses




The issue brought large crowds to the courthouse. Dozens of Davis' supporters and critics were demonstrating outside, chanting and singing songs.
Later in the morning, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union representing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>two gay couples filed two motions with a federal judge<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to hold Davis in contempt of court and compel her to start issuing marriage licenses again to those who apply. They want her to be fined, not jailed.
“I feel like I’ve been humiliated on such a national level, I can’t even comprehend it.”
David Ermold, Morehead, Ky.
"The duty of public officials is to enforce the law, not place themselves above it," the ACLU's legal director, Steven R. Shapiro, said in a statement.
An hour later Davis and her deputy clerks were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>notified to appear at an 11 a.m. Thursday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hearing at U.S. District Court in Ashland, Ky., about an hour to the east.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>As an elected official, Davis can’t be fired, but a judge can impose steep fines and jail time. She could be impeached but the state Legislature is not in session and many lawmakers support her position.
She won the office in November, running as a Democrat, and succeeded her mother who served as county clerk for 37 years, according to The Morehead News.
Davis' lawyers at Orlando-based Liberty Counsel did not respond to requests for comment.
Monday's ruling from the Supreme Court,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>made without comment or apparent dissents,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is an early indication that while some push-back against<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gay marriage<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on religious grounds may be upheld, the justices won't tolerate it from public officials.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In one of the first tests of the court's June 26 decision upholding the rights of gays and lesbians to marry,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Davis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had argued that her<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Christian faith prevented her from recognizing such marriages.
USA TODAY
Ky. clerk asks high court to intervene in marriage case




Rather than deny only same-sex couples, which the high court had said would be unconstitutional, Davis chose to stop issuing marriage licenses altogether — and same-sex and opposite-sex couples sued her.
Davis argued that her refusal was not a major burden for the couples because<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kentucky has more than 130 other marriage-licensing locations in other counties' clerk offices and branches. But federal district and appeals court judges refused to grant her wish, forcing Davis to seek the Supreme Court's intervention.
“I'm willing to face my consequences, and you all will face your consequences when it comes time for judgment. It's plain and simple.”
Kim Davis, Rowan County (Ky.) clerk
The conservative legal group<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Liberty Counsel filed her petition late last week.
"If a (same-sex marriage)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>license is issued with Davis’ name,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>authorization, and approval, no one can unring that bell," the petition said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience."
When Moore and Ermold had their exchange with Davis, they asked under whose authority she was denying them.
"Under God's authority," she said.
At one point, the couple said they were not leaving without a license, and Davis told them they would be in for a long day. Then<span style="color: Red;">*</span>she began walking back toward her office where she has remained much of the day with the door and blinds closed.
That's when Moore shouted for someone to call the police.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," he yelled. "Everyone in this office should be ashamed of themselves. Is this what you want to remember? Is this what you want to remember —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that you stood up for this? That you children have to look at you and realize that you are a bigot and that you discriminated against people?"
Davis returned and talked to the couple.
USA TODAY
Federal appeals court denies relief to Kentucky county clerk who objects to gay marriage




"I'm willing to face my consequences, and you all will face your consequences when it comes time for judgment," she said. "It's plain and simple."
She expanded upon that in a statement posted on her lawyers' website, calling hers a "Heaven or Hell" decision about marriage and God's word. It was unclear whether she is following Liberty Counsel advice or going her own path.
Ermold and Moore have been together for 17 years. Davis has rejected their attempts to apply for a marriage license four times, and they now are among those suing Davis.
“I feel sad.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>I feel devastated,” Ermold said outside as he stood with protesters. “I feel like I’ve been humiliated on such a national level, I can’t even comprehend it.”
USA TODAY
Clerk's office defies order to issue gay marriage licenses




Moore said he hopes to obtain a license before the end of 2015<span style="color: Red;">*</span>although<span style="color: Red;">*</span>lawyers have told him that the case could drag on for years.
James Yates and Will Smith Jr. were denied a marriage license for the fifth time Tuesday.
“It’s just too hard right now,” Yates said, choking back tears and holding hands as they rushed to their car.
USA TODAY
Ky. county clerk invokes God in denying gay marriages




The high court's ruling doesn't end Davis'<span style="color: Red;">*</span>challenge, still pending at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the same appellate court that previously allowed Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee to block same-sex marriage before Supreme Court justices<span style="color: Red;">*</span>overruled them. But it means that in the meantime, her office must issue marriage licenses.
Joe Davis, who came by the clerk's office to check on his wife, said he supports her convictions.
“They want us to accept their beliefs and their ways," he said of gay-rights protesters. "But they won’t accept our beliefs and our ways.”
Contributing:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Richard Wolf, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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