Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway
on Tuesday announced that he would not defend the state's ban on gay
marriage in court.
U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II
last week ruled part of the ban unconstitutional and gave the state
until March 20 to begin recognizing the legal out-of-state marriages
of gay and lesbian couples.
(Related: Kentucky
must recognize the out-of-state marriages of gay couples, judge
rules.)
An emotional Conway told reporters
gathered at his Frankfort office that he would not pursue any more
stays.
Conway, a Democrat, said that Judge
Heyburn “got it right” and that he could not defend
discrimination, according to Louisville's Courier-Journal.
Within moments, Governor Steve Beshear,
also a Democrat, announced that the state would hire outside counsel
to appeal Heyburn's ruling.
Conway is the seventh Democratic
attorney general to refuse to defend such laws, joining Kamala Harris
of California, Mark Herring of Virginia, Lisa Madigan of Illinois,
Kathleen Kane of Pennsylvania, Ellen Rosenblum of Oregon and
Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Masto recently withdrew a court
filing in which she defended Nevada's ban.
(Related: Nevada
withdraws defense of gay marriage ban that invoked bigamy, incest.)