Mike Huckabee: Jailing of Kim Davis “removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity”

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee blasted the jailing on Thursday (3 September) of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis for contempt of court.

Davis was ordered into custody by a federal judge who said she must do her job and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite her religious objections.

‘Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country,’ Huckebee wrote in a post on Facebook.

‘We must defend religious liberty and never surrender to judicial tyranny. Five, un-elected Supreme Court lawyers did not and cannot make law. They can only make rulings. The Supreme Court is not the Supreme branch and it’s certainly not the Supreme Being.’

The US Supreme Court ruled on 26 June that same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states. It was then that Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to all couples – straight or gay – which resulted in a federal lawsuit against her.

Davis lost the lawsuit and is appealing. Five of her deputy clerks told the judge they would issue licenses beginning Friday (4 September). Because Davis would not promise to not interfere with that process, the judge ordered her to stay in jail until she complies or resigns.

Huckabee, a candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, also wrote: ‘I am proud of Kim for standing strong for her beliefs. Who will be next? Pastors? Photographers? Caterers? Florists? This is a reckless, appalling, out-of-control decision that undermines the Constitution of the United States and our fundamental right to religious liberty.’

The post Mike Huckabee: Jailing of Kim Davis “removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity” appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/mike-huckabee-jailing-of-kim-davis-removes-all-doubt-of-the-criminalization-of-christianity/

Read The Oath Of Office That Kim Davis Refused To Uphold

A federal judge who sent the Notorious K.I.M., aka Kim Davis, to jail today noted that the Rowan County Clerk had sworn an oath to perform her job, just as many other public servants do. “Oaths mean things,” U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis on Thursday.

Here is the oath of office taken by court clerks and deputies in Kentucky:

Oath of clerk and deputies:

Every clerk and deputy, in addition to the oath prescribed by Section 228 of the Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take the following oath in presence of the Circuit Court:

“I, _____, do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of _____ County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God.”

H/t: LGBTQ Nation

Jeremy Kinser

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WATCH: Pat Robertson Says Gays Want All Opponents in Jail

Kim Davis is just the beginning, warns the antigay televangelist.

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Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/09/03/watch-pat-robertson-says-gays-want-all-opponents-jail

Pat Robertson Blames The Gays For The Stock Market Plunge

Now that she’s been taken into custody, Kim Davis can rest assured: she’s got a friend in Pat Robertson. 

Robertson defended the Kentucky county clerk, who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, in a Sept. 2 installment of “The 700 Club,” Right Wing Watch reports. The right-wing televangelist, who has been an outspoken opponent of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for some time, yearned for the days that homosexuality was still illegal in America. 

“There was a time that homosexuality was considered an aberration,” Robertson said. “It was illegal, as a matter of fact, and the thought of two homosexuals marrying one another was just undreamed of, we couldn’t even conceive of it.”

He then pointed to turmoil in the global stock market as being somehow tied to same-sex marriage. 

“Our finances right now are hanging by a thread,” he said. “The rupture of the entire financial framework of our world is so tenuous right now. If there is was ever a time that we need the grace of God, it is now, and unless something is done to change the courts and to change the way this country is going, it is just a question of time before the fabric ruptures and we’ll all suffer because of it.” 

Less than two weeks ago, Robertson made slightly different, though equally eyebrow-raising, claims by tying Planned Parenthood to “Black Monday,” August 24’s historic stock market plunge.  

“Here in America, we have been complicit in terminating the lives of in excess of 50 million precious unborn children,” he said. “And don’t you think almighty God is going to hold us accountable for that? It’s coming, ladies and gentleman. We just have a little taste of it in terms of the financial system, but it’s going to get shaken to its core in the next few months, years or however long it takes, and it will hurt every one of us.”

You’re gonna need to be a little bit more convincing, Pat. 

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Steve Grand ‘honored to accept’ US Marine Tanner White’s invite to military ball

US Marine Sgt. Tanner White figured her had nothing to lose when he made a YouTube video asking the singer Steve Grand to be his date to the Marine Corps Ball.

On Thursday (3 September), Grand gave his answer: Yes!

A smiling Grand replied, via YouTube video of course, that he would be ‘honored to accept’ the invitation to the event in November that will take place in Wlimington, North Carolina.

‘Thank you so much for your service to this country and I look forward to a really fun evening with you in November. See you soon buddy.’

White’s video asking Grand has now been viewed more than 54,000 times over the past two days.

The post Steve Grand ‘honored to accept’ US Marine Tanner White’s invite to military ball appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/steve-grand-honored-to-accept-us-marine-tanner-whites-invite-to-military-ball/

CONTEMPT OF COURT: Rowan County Clerk Held Accountable For Defying the Law

Citing “God’s authority”, local elected official refuses to issue marriage licenses to qualified couples despite federal court order
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/contempt-of-court-rowan-county-clerk-held-accountable-for-defying-the-law?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

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.

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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.  

— 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.

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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/

HHS Proposes Critical Regulation to Protect Transgender People From Discrimination in Healthcare

The proposed regulation is based on protections offered under the Affordable Care Act, and explicitly includes gender identity and sex stereotyping under sex-based discrimination protections
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hhs-proposes-critical-regulation-to-protect-transgender-people-from-discrim?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed