Kim Davis' county clerk office in Kentucky continued to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples on Thursday, even after a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that they had to grant them.
Davis, the Rowan County clerk, has not issued any marriage licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex
marriage nationwide in June, The Associated Press reported. She has cited her right to religious freedom.
But even after a federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld an order for Davis' Morehead, Kentucky, office to start granting the licenses, her office still refused. An official on Thursday would not provide a license to William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a couple that was applying for their third time, according to the AP.
By Thursday afternoon, the office had closed its doors, putting up a sign blaming "computer upgrades" and indicating they would reopen in an hour.
"They just don't like gay people, they don't want us to get married," Yates told the AP. "And they'd rather burn the earth and not let straight people in Rowan County get married either."
U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis to resume issuing licenses in early August, but he eventually delayed that ruling "until Aug. 31 or until the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling," according to the AP. But a deputy clerk in Davis' office reportedly told Smith and Yates that the office believes they don't have to issue licenses until Aug. 31.
Davis told the AP in July that she had prayed and fasted for months before deciding not to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples.
In early August, the county clerk filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, accusing him of violating her religious rights by forcing her to follow the Supreme Court
ruling to issue such licenses, according to WSAZ.
Davis isn't the only Kentucky county clerk refusing to honor the
Supreme Court ruling, the Tom Roten Morning Show reported. Casey Davis, a clerk in Casey County, has also refused to issue the licenses. Casey Davis refused to resign or to issue the licenses.
"I'm a Christian before I'm anything else. I think this is a war on Christianity. I think same-sex marriage just brought it to the surface," Casey Davis told Roten.
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