I will be jailed before issuing marriage licences to gays - county clerk, US

Turns out he may very well have to do time. This is a hold out clerk in Kentucky. There's been a few of them dithering and making excuses. In the end though it simply boils down to obeying the law of the land (you know, like the bible says). 

To make it even worse, this guy is elected to that position.

Of course he's gone all persecuted christian and all. Well if he can't do his job as a christian then he should find another job more in tune with his deeply held religious beliefs. I agree with the governor; do your job or resign.

Bizarrely, he talks about "natures law" - see two posts ago :)

"When he was elected, he took a constitutional oath to uphold the United States Constitution," Beshear said in a news release. "One of Mr. Davis' duties as county court clerk is to issue marriage licenses, and the Supreme court now says that the United States constitution requires those marriage licenses to be issued regardless of gender."

But Davis and others say they cannot be forced to do something that violates their religious beliefs. As he met with Beshear in his office Thursday, about 50 of his friends and family stood outside praying in the Capitol Rotunda. Davis left the meeting saying the two had "agreed to disagree."

The issue of religious freedom will be before U.S. District Judge David Bunning on Monday when he hears arguments in another case involving Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis. She refused to issue marriages licenses to two gay couples and two straight couples after the Supreme Court's ruling, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to seek an injunction forcing her to do it.

If a court was to issue such an injunction and Kim Davis or Casey Davis defied it, they could be thrown in jail. But removing them from office would be difficult: As elected officials, they would have to be impeached by the General Assembly, which is unlikely.

"The rest of the county court clerks are complying with the law regardless of their personal beliefs," Beshear said in a statement. "The courts and the voters will deal appropriately with the rest." more  

 

Update: This from the New York Times.

These public employees seem to forget that taxpayers pay them to do their job. If doing that job violates their religious beliefs, the best solution is to find another job, as several have done in the days since the Obergefell ruling. 

Some same-sex marriage opponents argue that under state religious-freedom laws, a government employee’s beliefs should be accommodated so long as another official is available to carry out the task. But government employees do not have a constitutionally protected right to pick and choose which members of the public they will serve, no matter their religious beliefs. 

Not so long ago, of course, government officials invoked religious beliefs to justify all manner of racial segregation and discrimination, including laws banning interracial marriage. The Supreme Court struck down that marriage ban in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. 

It is impossible to imagine any county clerk or judge now claiming a right not to marry an interracial couple based on religious beliefs. And yet, that would be analogous to what these public employees are doing in refusing to serve same-sex couples. The Constitution’s protection of religious freedom simply does not include the right to discriminate against others in the public sphere. more  

 Update 2: