Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (Ty Wright/Getty)
A Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licences to gay couples is now trying to get same-sex marriage outlawed in the United States.
Kim Davis, who is a former clerk for Rowan county, is involved with a brief filed by the Foundation for Moral Law, an Alabama-based organisation founded by Roy Moore.
Moore’s organisation has filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of Davis, who made headlines when she requested a religious exemption in her job that would allow her to refuse marriage licences to same-sex couples.
The brief, filed yesterday (March 12), expresses support for Davis and goes a step further, asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which resulted in same-sex marriage being legalised across the United States.
Anti-gay conservative group wants marriage to be ‘a union between one man and one woman for life’.
Moore’s wife Kayla said in a statement that she believes they now have a chance of overturning the ruling as Anthony Kennedy is no longer on the Supreme Court.
“Now that Justice Kavanaugh has replaced Justice Kennedy, we hope that the Supreme Court will once again allow the states to recognize marriage for what it is: a union between one man and one woman for life,” she said.
Meanwhile, Matt Clark, the lawyer who wrote the brief, said the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision “could not be logically deduced from the text of the Constitution of found in the longstanding traditions of our people.”
Now that Justice Kavanaugh has replaced Justice Kennedy, we hope that the Supreme Court will once again allow the states to recognize marriage for what it is: a union between one man and one woman for life.
“Obergefell not only perverted the Constitution and changed the definition of marriage, but it also jeopardized the religious liberty of Kim Davis and millions of Americans who object to same-sex marriage,” he added.
Kim Davis stopped issuing all marriage licences after the 2015 legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Davis hit the headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licences to gay couples – despite it being her job to do so.
Last year, a court ruled that the same-sex couples who were denied marriage licences by her could sue her for damages.
Davis, a born-again Christian, had claimed that she stopped issuing all marriage licenses after the 2015 Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage in the US, and that same-sex couples could apply for marriage licenses elsewhere.