fbpx
34.8 F
Spokane
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsKentucky town's brush with gay marriage spotlight stirs tension

Kentucky town’s brush with gay marriage spotlight stirs tension

Date:

Related stories

Two Palouse Churches to Sponsor Upcoming Viewing of ‘God & Country’

A one-time viewing of “God & Country” will take place on Saturday, April 13, at 2 p.m., at the Kenworthy Theater in Moscow, Idaho. the film looks at the implications of Christian nationalism and how it distorts the constitutional republic, but Christianity itself.

Utah Women’s Basketball Team Experiences Racism in Cd’A

Utah Women's Basketball Coach Lynne Roberts admitted at a press conference today her team experience "several instances of racial hate crimes" during their stay in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, last week (March 21).

Spokane’s Church-Based Homeless Shelters Receive Funding to Operate through the Summer

The Spokane City Council voted unanimously last week to extend the contract with Jewels Helping Hands to continue funding church-based homeless shelters through the summer.

Faiths Unite for 25-Mile Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage in Spokane

On March 30, Christians, Jews, Muslims and people from multiple faiths in Spokane and the surrounding area will embark on a 25-mile pilgrimage in solidarity and prayer for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.

‘My heart is open to your questions’: Mosque hosts Ramadan dinner for Palouse community

Thirteen days into Ramadan, hushed silence descended on the Pullman Islamic Center. Only shoes sliding into cubbies at the front door interrupted the recitation of prayer. 

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

By Steve Bittenbender

MOREHEAD, Ky. (Reuters) – The calm that returned to Morehead, Kentucky – home to the county clerk who had refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples – could be short-lived when Kim Davis returns to work on Monday, along with crowds of demonstrators and the media.

Davis has been absent from work since she was released on Tuesday from a six-day stint in jail for her refusal to issue marriage licenses because it conflicted with her religious beliefs.

Supporters and critics alike are wondering what Davis will do on Monday, and whether her next move will send her back to jail, this time for a longer stay. A district judge has ordered her not to interfere with her five deputies who have agreed to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Before Davis became a rallying point for social conservatives and the debate over gay marriage in the United States, the rural town of 7,000 tucked in the Appalachian foothills was better known as the home of Morehead State University and its 11,000 students.

A walk through the town, where residents, including those in the gay community, as well as students mix freely, finds several banks, barber shops and churches, cafes and even a coffee shop and bookstore.

Jessalyn Fulton, a sophomore, said she met Davis earlier this week after the county clerk came into the Taco Bell where she works, shadowed by an armed bodyguard, and ordered a cantina power burrito.

In the past, the town and more liberal university have worked out their differences.

In 2013, the city council approved a Fairness Ordinance that extended discrimination protections to gay, bisexual and transgender people for employment and housing after several gay and lesbian students were denied off-campus housing, according to a spokeswoman for the Rowan County Rights Coalition.

But cracks are starting to show in the relationships that have built up over the years. Several business owners in Morehead declined to discuss the issue for fear of upsetting either side.

Nashia Fife, secretary-elect of the county’s rights coalition, said nerves are fraying. “It’s being seen as personal and it’s really not.”

The day after Davis was jailed, her husband Joe called for a boycott of the university because of its embrace of gays and lesbians.

Morehead State President Wayne Andrews said elected officials should obey the law and do their jobs.

Puffing on a cigar, across the street from the Fuzzy Duck coffee shop, 77-year-old retiree Robert Littlepage, who moved here about 10 years ago, said he and most of his friends in town wonder whether there is better solution.

“There should have been an accommodation that satisfied both sides, rather than putting it all on her,” he said, pointing to talk about the possibility that her name and authority over the issue could be shifted to a judge or a state department.

 

 

(Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Editing by Ben Klayman and Lisa Shumaker)

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
spot_img
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x