LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor on Wednesday signed into law a bill creating one marriage license form for gay and straight couples, defusing an issue that erupted when a county clerk was jailed for refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples.
Gov. Matt Bevin, a socially conservative Republican, said his signature on the bipartisan legislation brings “statutory finality to the marriage license dilemma.”
The governor signed the measure without fanfare in his state Capitol office in Frankfort.
“Everyone benefits from this common-sense legislation,” Bevin said in a statement. “There is no additional cost or work required by our county clerks. They are now able to fully follow the law without being forced to compromise their religious liberty.”
The legislation was a response to Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who spent five days in jail last year for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs. Davis said she couldn’t issue the licenses because they had her name on them.
Under the measure becoming law, marriage license applicants would have the option of checking “bride,” ”groom” or “spouse” beside their name.
The form would not have the clerk’s name on it.
The bill’s final version passed the state’s politically divided General Assembly without any opposition. It cleared the Democratic-led House on a 97-0 vote, followed by a 36-0 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, a gay-rights group, said Wednesday that the bill’s success shows that when dealing with LGBT issues, “Kentuckians can come together to find solutions that are inclusive and treat everyone fairly and with dignity.”
The Senate initially passed a starkly different version that proposed separate marriage license forms for gay and straight couples. Under that version, one form would have listed a bride and groom and the other would have listed “first party and second party.”
Bevin, however, later endorsed the single-form version, which helped revive the issue after it languished for weeks.
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Hey whaddaya know! Good for him.
Now that the Governor Matt Bevin has stroked and coddled and smooched and slobbered and powdered the bottoms of the hysterical bigoted right, self-serving public servants like this lowly creature can find some other way to disrespect and persecute diversity…perhaps a Kentucky religious freedom bill is in the offing?
Well, he finally did something right. Bless his heart. What’s the situation with Kynect now? Did he give in to Kentucky Obamacare yet?
It seems to me that the Little Sisters of the Poor need to go to Kentucky and explain that this solution still requires clerks to hand a license over to the gay couple, thus participating in their sinful behavior.
Now what about health care for the desperate?