Summary: Kentucky marriage licenses will no longer feature the names of county clerks in order to protect the religious freedom of all involved.
The Republican Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, has issued an executive order for the state’s new marriages to be prepared that do not include the names of county clerks. The request has been made in an attempt to protect the religious freedom of county clerks like Kim Davis and other elected officials.
The Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives has been instructed to provide county clerks with the revised forms. Bevin wanted to ensure “sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored.” He has only been in office for a month after previous Governor Steve Beshear was ineligible for re-election because of term limits. Davis has previously sued the Democratic Beshear for violating her religious freedom by forcing her to issue the marriage licenses.
Rowan County clerk Davis spent five days in jail after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. As an Apostolic Christian, Davis claimed she was being forced to choose between her “conscience or freedom,” resulting in her five days jail stint.
Davis had previously requested the name removal change to be done and had already removed her name from any marriage licenses issued from her office. This action had caused some to question the validity of the licenses but they were declared to still be considered legal.
Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-third-quarter-gdp-revised-down-to-2-0-growth-1450791178
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