Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Gov. Matt Bevin issued five executive orders in one day last December. One of those orders protects Christian county clerks, who won’t have to put their names on “marriage” licenses for homosexuals. Gov. Bevin announced that he intended to issue such an order.
After the U.S. Supreme Court declared the nonsensical — that two people of the same sex had a constitutional right to call themselves married — state lawmakers knew they needed to protect Christian government employees who refused to participate. North Carolina’s governor, Pat McCrory, signed a bill into law to protect county magistrates and clerks.
A Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, refused to issue licenses under her name. She also refused a judge’s order to perform this part of her job, and he sent her to jail. He later released her.
ABC 10 reported that a Kentucky Senate committee passed a bill “without serious opposition” that would codify Gov. Bevin’s executive order. An excerpt:
The bill would create license forms that would allow for a county clerk’s name to not appear on the form. Instead, just the name of the office’s employee that records the license would be on it.
Republican Sen. Steve West, the bill’s sponsor, said that under the plan, one form would include spaces for “bride” and “groom” and the other one would include spaces for “first party” and “second party.” He said county clerks asked for different forms because constituents wanted them.
It’s good to see Kentucky lawmakers trying to protect Christians who work in government. Next on their agenda should be protecting Christians who work for themselves.
Photo credit: Matt Popovich (Creative Commons) – Public Domain
