Morehead, Kentucky residents may have thought a circus was in town on 09/14/15. Actually, there was one. Unfortunately, what happened in the Rowan County Clerk’s Office wasn’t funny. Here is a sampling of the news reports about the activities that occurred.
ABC News: “Kentucky clerk Kim Davis’ name was removed from the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple today following her return to work in Rowan County earlier this morning. Deputy Clerk Brian Mason issued the license to Shannon and Carmen Wampler-Collins, a couple who met 23 years ago at Smith College. Davis never left her office during the process. Instead of her name appearing on the license, it said it was issued pursuant to a court order and under the authority of the city of Morehead, Kentucky. A preacher at the back of the room tried to shout the couple down, urging them to repent and not get the license.”
NBC News: “At the clerk’s office on Monday, as the Wampler-Collinses walked up to the counter to get their license, a protester heckled the clerk and implored one of the women not to separate herself from God.”
On Monday, the plaza outside the courthouse took on a carnival air: loud speakers blasted Christian music, television cameras and lights were set up in white-topped tents, and Davis’ supporters waved signs and prayed.
The issue has drawn some of the most fervent Christian activists from across the country. Their trucks are parked up and down the street, bearing signs that read “sodomy ruins nations” and “repent.”
One truck, with a North Carolina license plate, has a poster-sized photo of an aborted fetus on the side. Others, from Iowa and Colorado, feature photos of two men kissing with doomsday warnings about the “sin” of homosexuality.
Judge Bunning held Davis in contempt and ordered her to jail Sept. 3 when she continued to refuse to issue the licenses. In her absence, her deputies issued at least seven licenses to gay couples and altered the forms to exclude Davis’ name.
The governor, the attorney general and the county attorney have said the licenses are valid. Davis and her attorneys claim otherwise.
The first couple to apply for a license Monday was Shannon Wampler and Carmen Collins. They stood at the counter for a half-hour, dozens of reporters gathering behind them and microphones bobbing above their heads.
Deputy clerk Brian Mason – sitting behind a sign that reads “marriage license deputy” – gave them a license despite his boss’s objections and after a delay because of a printer problem. Protesters in the back heckled Mason, but he ignored them, initialed the license and shook the couple’s hands.
He remained calm, scrolling on his computer and chewing gum, despite the surreal scene unfolding before him.
Davis’ supporters heckled.
Elizabeth Johnson from Ohio screamed: “Come on clerks, don’t sign that license. Don’t let Kim’s five days in jail be in vain.”
Aren’t those above-mentioned Davis supporters precious? They have turned religion into a circus so appalling that not even P.T. Barnum would touch it. The only clowns less amusing are the elected ones who work in the U.S. Capitol.
Something in the above-reported brouhaha is puzzling. The religion displayed by the above-mentioned circus doesn’t match anything that this writer finds in the New Testament, and a web search for it turned up nothing. Well, Gang, it looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands. Someone call Scooby-Doo.
