Not only is jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis citing her religious beliefs for denying marriage licenses to gay couples, so are other local officials.
Davis was jailed Thursday by a federal judge after refusing to issue the licenses in Rowan County in light the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in June.
Many Republican presidential candidates have slammed the move as infringing on Davis' her religious liberty.
In addition, Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day in Oregon is under an ethics investigation after refusing to perform gay marriages,
USA Today reports.
Day has never performed a same-sex marriage since joining the bench in 2011, said spokesman Patrick Korten. He stopped performing all marriages this spring.
The judge has never performed a same-sex marriage because of "deeply held religious beliefs," Korten told USA Today.
"He has a right to those beliefs under the United States Constitution," he said.
In other states, according to USA Today:
- A federal court in Granbury, Texas, compelled Hood County Clerk Katie Lang to issue a license to Granbury residents Joe Stapleton and Jim Cato in July. Texas law also requires clerks to record marriage licenses. The case was eventually settled, costing county taxpayers $43,000.
- In Alabama, as many as 10 counties have stopped issuing licenses altogether as of Wednesday. State law says that probate judges "may" issue the licenses rather than "shall."
- And in North Carolina, more than 30 county magistrates have refused to perform gay marriages under a law that says officials can refrain from conducting marriage-related activities.
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