Kim Davis 'In Custody' for Contempt of Court
The Rowan County, Ky., clerk will remain in jail until she allows her staff to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples, regardless of gender.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/09/03/kim-davis-custody-contempt-court
Kentucky Clerk Who Won't Give Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couples Is Going To Jail
WASHINGTON — The Kentucky county clerk who rose to prominence for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is now headed to jail.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to be jailed for contempt of court. She has waged a personal war against the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.
Davis first defied an order by Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear (D) for clerks to follow the law. After she was sued in federal court for her noncompliance and ordered to issue marriage licenses, Davis refused again. She sought a delay of that order and lost, so she brought her plea all the way to the Supreme Court, which this week effectively required her to comply.
She has since continued to defy the order, citing “God’s authority.”
The Guardian reported that U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis during a court hearing Thursday that she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue licenses. She was led from the courtroom by U.S. marshals.
The same-sex couple suing Davis asked Bunning to hold her in contempt, but recommended financial penalties, not jail time. Davis argued in a court filing on Wednesday that it was impossible for her to authorize same-sex marriage licenses because the action “irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience.”
She also argued that there were “less restrictive alternatives” to a contempt ruling. She suggested she could deputize someone else to issue marriage licenses for her, or that the state could call a special legislative session on the issue.
Davis is an unlikely symbol of the conservative effort to claim religious freedom exemptions in response to the Obergefell ruling. She has garnered support from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). On the Hill, Republicans are backing legislation that bars the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person or corporation acting in accordance with a religious belief against same-sex marriage. Some conservatives have gone so far as to endorse civil disobedience as a response to the ruling.
As the New York Times reported, Davis is not the only government official who has taken a personal stand. She is joined by a clerk in Irion County, Texas, and a probate judge in Washington County, Alabama. But these pockets of resistance remain small. The nation has overwhelmingly moved to allow all Americans to marry the people they love.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Kim Davis found in contempt of court and is taken into federal custody
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis had said she was prepared to go to jail.
And now she is.
After a hearing on Thursday (3 September), a federal in Ashland County, Kentucky, found Davis in contempt of court and ordered that she be taken into custody by federal marshals.
US District Judge David Bunning told Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She has not issued any licenses since the US Supreme Court ruled in June that same-sex legal is legal in all 50 states.
‘The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,’ Bunning said. ‘If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.’
The Associated Press reports that Davis said ‘thank you’ before being led out of the courtroom. She was not handcuffed.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing Davis on behalf of four couples refused licenses, had requested fines instead of jail time. But Bunning did not feel fines were sufficient punishment in the case.
She has cited religious beliefs as the reason she has refused to issue the licenses.
The post Kim Davis found in contempt of court and is taken into federal custody appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
www.gaystarnews.com/article/kim-davis-found-in-contempt-of-court-and-is-taken-into-federal-custody/
Breaking: Kim Davis Taken Into Federal Custody After Being Found In Contempt Of Court
It doesn’t always pay to go rogue, as Kim Davis has just learned. The bitter, embattled Rowan County clerk, who has become possibly the most despised woman in the United States due to her illegal refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has just been found in contempt of court and taken into federal custody.
A federal judge has ordered a defiant Kentucky clerk to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the licenses. Davis said “thank you” before she was led out of the courtroom by a U.S. marshal. She was not in handcuffs.
Davis has refused to issue marriages licenses for two months since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. She argues that her Christian faith should exempt her from signing the licenses.
Related: Kim Davis Will Soon Be A Martyr Rolling In Cash, Predicts Dan Savage
Check back for more updates throughout the day.
Jeremy Kinser
LIVE FEED: Outside Kim Davis Hearing at Ashland Courthouse
The post LIVE FEED: Outside Kim Davis Hearing at Ashland Courthouse appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
www.towleroad.com/2015/09/live-feed-outside-kim-davis-hearing-at-ashland-courthouse/
Kim Davis and Judge Deciding Her Fate Face Nepotism Allegations
Being a county clerk runs in Kim Davis’s family, while the judge who will decide what to do with the defiant clerk was appointed to the federal bench while his dad was a U.S. Senator.
Elizabeth Daley
Exactly Zero Men On PrEP Contract HIV In 2.5-Year Study
After two and a half years of trials, a new study has found no new HIV infections among a group of people on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
For 32 months, researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco tracked the health of over 600 people as they used Truvada daily to prevent the virus in a real-world setting.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Exactly zero gay men contract HIV in 32 month PrEP study
Over 600 people have been found to not have contracted HIV after using PrEP for two and a half years.
Researchers at the Kaiser Pemanente Medical Center in San Francisco have given over 600 people Truvada to use daily.
No one contracted HIV.
The average age of the study participants was 37, 99% were gay or bisexual men and the average length of individual usage was 7.2 months.
This group was more likely to have multiple sex partners than those who did not use PrEP.
Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, lead author Jonathan Volk said this is the first time to understand the use of PrEP in a real-world setting.
‘[It] suggests the treatment may prevent new HIV infections even in a high-risk setting,’he said.
‘Until now, evidence supporting the efficacy of PrEP to prevent HIV infection had come from clinical trials and a demonstration project.’
While no one contracted HIV, 30% of participants did get a STI within six months after the study started. This number then jumped to 50% after one year.
In addition, 41% admitted they used condoms less, compared to the 56% who said their use of condoms remained unchanged.
This suggests that many used the drug as a way of not using condoms anymore.
‘Without a control group, we don’t know if these STI rates were higher than what we would have seen without PrEP,’ co-author Julia Marcus said. ‘Ongoing screening and treatments for STIs, including hepatitis C, are an essential component of a PrEP treatment program.’
PrEP has divided the LGBTI community since it was approved by the FDA in 2012.
Michael Weinstein, head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has opposed it, calling Truvada a ‘party drug’ that discourages condom use.
But last year, the World Health Organization suggested that every single sexually active gay and bisexual man should be on the drug saying it could save lives.
The post Exactly zero gay men contract HIV in 32 month PrEP study appeared first on Gay Star News.
Joe Morgan
www.gaystarnews.com/article/exactly-zero-gay-men-contract-hiv-in-32-month-prep-study/
HRC San Diego Steering Committee Connects with Congressional Leader
HRC San Diego Steering Committee member Sapphire Blackwood reflects on meeting Representative Scott Peters this summer.
HRC.org
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