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A DEFIANT COUNTY clerk went to jail today for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, but five of her deputies agreed to comply with the law, ending a two-month church-state stand-off in Rowan County, Kentucky.
US District Judge David Bunning said he had no choice but to jail Kim Davis for contempt after she insisted that her “conscience will not allow” her to follow federal court rulings on gay marriage.
“God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” Davis told the judge. “You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”
The judge later tried to keep Davis out of jail after all. He rejected her lawyer’s argument that deputy clerks cannot act against her authority, and called each one before him to declare their intentions. Faced with potential fines or jail, all but the clerk’s son, Nathan Davis, promised to comply.
The judge said Nathan Davis’ refusal wouldn’t matter and that his mother could go free as long as she promises not to interfere with issuing of marriage licenses to all couples. But Kim Davis rejected the offer, her lawyers later said.
With that, the hearing ended, and gay and lesbian couples vowed to appear at the Rowan County clerk’s office yet again tomorrow, to see if the deputy clerks keep their promises.
As word of Davis’ jailing reached the crowds outside the federal courthouse, hundreds of people chanted and screamed, “Love won! Love won!”
Bunning said it would set up a “slippery slope” to allow an individual’s ideas to supersede the courts’ authority.
“Her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense,” Bunning said. “I myself have genuinely held religious beliefs … but I took an oath.”
“Mrs Davis took an oath,” he added. “Oaths mean things.”
Davis is being represented by the Liberty Counsel, an organisation that advocates in court for religious freedoms. Before she was led away, Davis explained that the US Supreme Court’s ruling in June that legalised gay marriage nationwide conflicts with the vows she made when she became a born-again Christian.
I promised to love Him with all my heart, mind and soul because I wanted to make heaven my home.
April Miller, denied a marriage license four times by Davis or her deputies, testified that she voted for Kim Davis, but wants to be treated equally in the community where she lives. One of the deputy clerks told her to apply in a different county, she said, but “that’s kind of like saying we don’t want gays or lesbians here. We don’t think you are valuable.”
Faced with the possibility of fines, jail time or the loss of their jobs, five of the clerks promised to issue the licenses.
“I don’t really want to, but I will comply with the law,” said one, Melissa Thompson. “I’m a preacher’s daughter and this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” she added. “I don’t hate anybody … None of us do.”
Davis said she hopes the Legislature will change Kentucky laws to find some way for her to keep her job while following her conscience. But unless the governor convenes a costly special session, they won’t meet until January. “Hopefully our legislature will get something taken care of,” she told the judge.
Until then, the judge said, he has no alternative but to keep her behind bars.
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They should keep off those porn sites, nothing but trouble………..
You seem to be very familiar with those sites!
I was until I caught a virus……..
its those genuine girls in your area who always trick you
Better to get a virus from the promiscuous ladies on your computer than a virus from the promiscuous lady on the street
Was it blue flu?
I thought the same Sean?
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I have Chlamydia,
now you have too……
Swine flu, no?
No point catching the virus, he will get suspended sentence. They need to eliminate it completely.
The virus had 142 previous infections, but was a mutation from a troubled virus.
Hahaha
I’m not confident in the integrity of the security of Garda IT systems.
Rumour has it the virus refused to start working unless it got a pay rise
It was the blue flu virus.
I’ve long suspected that Garda Management have been infected by malware planted by the Government that affects their ability to represent the best interests of the force, and of the public and allows them sit idly by and let their numbers, resources & morale be decimated- telling us all the while that they are adequately resourced.
Our police force is unfit for purpose. A shower of scruffy, unwashed money grabbers. A national embarrassment
Was in a shop last week, when a female police officer was buying a breakfast roll. Christ her tie was still covered from yolk from her previous roll. Her hair was u kept, trousers looked like she’s slept in them, and her shoes looked like they’d been lying in a big. Disgusting
You really are the biggest tool who posts on the Journal. You should invest some of that spare time in learning the English language.
Are you one of that disgusting police force Martie?
Maybe she spent her night dealing with calls from your filthy riff raff housing estate.
Nothing like a girl in uniform, then add a breakfast roll into the equation. Happy Days!
God no! I don’t live in a housing estate. I only voice my opinion on the state of our police force. No one can deny how scruffy and uninterested they are! It’s all well and good to be patriotic, but some things have to be said.
Dirtbag
Waster
Tell us how you really feel John……..
Even the computers are infected along with everything else in the AGS
So Gardai are claiming they found a Zero day? If so, that is really good cyber Forensics work on their part!
I highly doubt it was their detection, more likely something triggered them to bring in a third party to analyse the affected system.
No doubt there will be rumbles of “well maybe we should update to Win 10″ now that it’s no longer free
You couldn’t update from xp which the gardai use.
It wasn’t free for commercial companies to upgrade and if they did upgrade they could be in for some fines if a Microsoft audit ever takes place.
Good aul An Garda Siochana and their Windows Millennium Edition…what hacker would want to write code to infect their outdated systems
Somebody opening those penis enlargement emails.
How else are the guards supposed to download Taylor Swift, after she deleted from Spotify.
Keep taking the ‘tablets’!!!!
Have the ex TD’s given the tablets back yet?
If you’ve been hacked you’ll never know it. unless the inch hacked are released to the public media.
information*
Probably using free AV software
They might have found info on ambassadors and politicians selling Irish passports. They may even have people apply and then look after their application.
Garda.ie is being redesigned, finally!
With all the Garda cutbacks and underfunding, it’s more ‘Heartbeat’ than PULSE. I’d really hate to think anything bad happened to the Operation Mizen files though..
Hope pulse doesn’t spit out all those speeding fines, Especially the supers.
…….
Malwarebytes.
Do the guards actually have a clue these days when it comes to computers? I remember back in the day. The internet a playground for the mischievous and the guards barely knew what a computer was.
Yeah the virus is called the blue flu!
have your say