Gay man denied a marriage license by Kim Davis wants to run against her
Kim Davis and her fourth husband (Getty)
A man refused a license to marry his fiancé by Kim Davis is preparing to stand against her in next year’s election.
Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis is set to re-run for election in 2018, despite her extreme opposition to LGBT rights and being put behind bars for contempt of court.
Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples when she operated as a county clerk in 2015, but says she intends to retain her seat as Rowan County Clerk in next year’s elections.
The task might have just got much tougher, however, after one of the men she denied a license to, David Ermold, considers standing against her in the race.
After she was sent to jail for six days for refusing a federal order to issue same-sex marriage certificates, Davis became a staunch anti-gay marriage campaigner.
The Apostolic Christian has said that she refused to issue the licenses because same-sex marriage goes against her beliefs.
Now Ermold wants to stop her.
No Democrat has yet put their name forward to oppose the Republican right-winger.
“If Kim Davis was reelected in that position without an appropriate fight, I’d probably regret it for the rest of my life,” Ermold, an English professor, told WKU Public Radio.
“I think I could win,” Ermold told the Greenfield Recorder.
“I don’t think that she has learned anything from the experience at all.
“I really, truly think that she feels like she is right. I really don’t think she cares at all about what civil rights are.”
He is now considering how to raise funds to run in the election.
Davis hasn’t just contained her homophobic vitriol to the confides of her constituency since the marriage license controversy.
Alongside the Liberty Counsel, Davis met Romanian campaigners against same-sex marriage to discuss the impending referendum on legalising same-sex unions.
“She loves her job and she loves the people,” Mat Staver, the lawyer who represented her legal battle, said.
“I’m sure [the election] will probably have more attention because of who she is, but you know she doesn’t have any major concerns about it.”
After Davis’ refusal, the state legislature later changed the law so county clerks did not have to sign their name on marriage licenses.
A district judge recently ruled that the state of Kentucky must cover the fees for the American Civil Liberties Union lawyers who represented the couples suing Davis, amounting to $220,000.
“It’s hard for her to make the argument that the $220,000 she has cost taxpayers is a good value for Rowan County residents,” Chris Hartman, director of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign told the Associated Press.
This will be the first time voters have a say in making Davis accountable for her actions in 2015.
But at this moment in time, no other candidate has offered their name.
