Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on
Tuesday called on county clerks who refuse to issue marriage licenses
to gay and lesbian couples to resign.
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Kentucky filed a class action lawsuit against Rowan County
Clerk Kim Davis after she decided to stop issuing marriage licenses
to all couples rather than serve gay couples.
Appearing in court Monday, Davis
testified that she prayed and fasted for months over what would be
her response to the Supreme Court's ruling striking down gay marriage
bans in all 50 states.
She said that the First Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution gives her the right to refuse to serve gay
couples because it violates her religious faith.
“When you voluntarily decide to run
for office, and you win, and you raise your hand and you take the
oath to uphold the Constitutions of the United States … that oath
doesn’t say, 'I will uphold the parts of the Constitution that I
agree with and won't with the parts I don't agree with,'” Beshear
said at a press conference.
“You can continue to have your own
personal beliefs but you're also taking an oath to fulfill the duties
prescribed by law. And if you are at that point to where your
personal convictions tell you that you simply cannot fulfill your
duties that you were elected to do, then obviously an honorable
course to take is to resign and let someone else step-in who feels
that they can fulfill those duties.”
A second clerk who is resisting the
Supreme Court's authority, Casey Davis of Casey County, has said he
will not resign.
(Related: KY
clerk who refuse to issue marriage licenses to gays claims his rights
are being violated.)