Here's how it should typically work: If a same-sex couple shows up at a county clerk's office to get married, an individual official can refuse to grant them a license. But the official would have to hand the case over to another county staffer, who would then give the license to the couple. The issue is that individual government employees may refuse — based on genuine religious objections — to marry same-sex couples, but the county government as a whole has a compelling interest to accommodate the couple and avoid violating their constitutional right to marry.
Davis's office is refusing to issue any marriage licenses, which lets her office say it isn't discriminating against same-sex couples, since no one — not even opposite-sex couples — can marry. But even that defense hasn't worked: Gov. Beshear's office concluded that it's a clerk's legal duty to issue marriage licenses, and courts have agreed, so Davis is violating her clerk's oath to uphold the law by stopping her ENTIRE office from marrying anyone.
Still, Davis was offered an accommodation: She could let her deputy clerks marry people, while she excuses herself from the process. She refused, saying she would interfere if she was released from jail. That indicates Davis doesn't just want to excuse herself from marrying same-sex couples, but wants to be able to impose her religious beliefs on her whole office — and, as a result, the entire county government. And it means the judge can't release Davis from jail if he wants to keep marriage licenses flowing, since she would stop deputy clerks from issuing licenses.
So, let me sum this up all nice and easy.....Davis wants to IMPOSE her religious dogma on EVERYONE in her county. That, my friend, is illegal.
