It's been nearly two weeks since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages nationwide, and there are still couples being turned down for marriage licenses. Most recently, David Ermold, 41, and David Moore, 39, showed up at the county clerk's office in Rowan County, Kentucky to get a marriage license, only to be turned away.
"We had talked about getting married before, and David [Moore] wanted to wait for it to be recognized in our home state and home town," Ermold told Refinery29 over the phone. But when they found out that Kim Davis, the clerk of their county, was refusing to issue marriage licenses, they found their plans shattered.
"I wrote a letter to the office, citing the Supreme Court ruling and laws I was aware of, and I didn't get a response from that, and I sent a letter to the judge executive and I didn't get a response to that either," Ermold said. Eventually the two showed up on the morning of July 6 to try and talk to Kim Davis, filming their interaction with the office staff.
In the video above, Moore and Ermold wait some six minutes before anyone addresses them. "One man kind of yelled at us across the room, he said our business is done here," Ermold said. Six minutes in to the video, a man off-screen says, "We do not sell marriage licenses in this county. You can go to our surrounding counties and they can assist you with that. Thank you."
Kim Davis herself makes an appearance in the video, but asks that the filming stop. After the video ends, "we asked her basically why she couldn't issue a marriage license to gay couples, and she gave us the story of Adam and Eve, that that is what God intended, and that she was worried about her soul and salvation," Moore said. "[David and I] have been together 17 years, and I never thought it would be legal in our state, and when it did become legal, she said no."
The two are going to keep fighting, however. The couple has talked to an attorney, sending a letter to Kim Davis asking her to issue a marriage license by 5 p.m. July 9. "We're not going to go to another county, we live here, we pay taxes here, I consider it our right to walk into the county clerk office and get a marriage license, just like any other couple," Moore said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against the Rowan County clerk last week on behalf of four other couples who were denied marriage licenses. Kim Davis and her staff could not be reached for comment.