A Kentucky county clerk who has been outspoken in his opposition to marriage equality now says he’ll “die” fighting to keep same-sex couples from tying the knot.
Casey County Clerk Casey Davis has reportedly refused to issue marriage licenses to both heterosexual and same-sex couples in protest of the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling on marriage equality. In an Aug. 24 interview on West Virginia’s The Tom Roten Morning Show, Davis vowed to continue to defy the Supreme Court even if it costs him his life, Right Wing Watch reports.
“It’s a war on Christianity,” he told Roten. “There is a travesty taking place with that Supreme Court ruling [that] was completely unconstitutional, completely unconstitutional.”
“Our law says ‘one man and one woman,’ and that is what I held my hand up and took an oath to and that is what I expected,” he continued. “If it takes my life, I will die ... because I believe I owe that to the people that fought so I can have the freedom that I have, I owe that to them today, and you do, we all do.”
He then added, "They fought and died so we could have this freedom, and I’m going to fight and die for my kids and your kids can keep it.”
Previously, Davis had asked Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to call for a special session of the state legislature so it can pass a new law allowing couples to purchase marriage licenses online in a process similar to obtaining a hunting or fishing license.
In July, Davis told The Lexington Herald-Leader that he had, in fact, met with Beshear, but was told to do his job or resign.
Davis is one of two Kentucky clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples since same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide. The other, Kim Davis (no relation) of Rowan County, is currently being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two gay couples and two heterosexual couples for denying them marriage licenses.
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