ONE of two couples who ran foul of the deeply-held religious beliefs of Kim Davis, above—David Ermold and David Moore—have been awarded $50,000 each in damages for the humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress she caused them back in 2015.
However, a second couple, James Yates and Will Smith, who were also denied a marriage licence by the four-times married hypocrite and bigot, were awarded nothing by a separate jury, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.
The verdict last week comes more than a year after U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning ruled that the Rowan county clerk had violated the rights of the couples.
Ermold and Moore were clearly happy at the news, embracing and holding back tears after Bunning read the jury’s verdict.
Joseph Buckle, one of the attorneys representing the couple, applauded Bunning and the jury for a fair trial.
There’s been a lot of media attention and the judge had a tough job to try to pick fair and impartial jurors and I think he did a great job.
Horatio Mihet, an attorney for Davis, said they planned to appeal the jury’s finding for Ermold and Moore but was happy with the verdict in Yates and Moore’s case.
A mixed day today. We are obviously grateful that the Yates jury fully vindicated Miss Davis.
He added that there was “more work to do in the Ermold matter.”
The battle is not yet over
Liberty Counsel, representing Davs, insists that Davis is not liable for any damages because she was entitled to:
A religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority that conflict with her religious beliefs
Liberty Councel also claims that:
The plaintiffs suffered no damages because they could have obtained marriage licenses from any nearby clerk’s office. The plaintiffs instead created a shame case by intentionally targeting Kim Davis because of her religious beliefs. This is especially true of the Ermold plaintiffs who never thought about getting ‘married’ until they heard about Kim Davis via social media.
Image via YouTube
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, above, said:
We look forward to appealing this decision and taking this case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kim Davis has blazed the trail in Kentucky where she has obtained religious freedom for all clerks. Now it is time to extend that freedom to everyone, and that is what Liberty Counsel intends to do.
Following the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage legal, Smith and Yates sought a marriage license from the Rowan County clerk’s office five times.
They were finally awarded one while Davis was jailed after being held in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
Davis, an evangelical Christian who believes that marriage is only between a man and a woman, said issuing a license to a gay couple with her name on it would violate her beliefs and rights.
She had her office stop issuing licenses to any couples for a time in order to avoid having to issue one to a gay couple.
In his own testimony last Tuesday, Ermold said Davis’ action fueled bias against gay people in the community.
People opposed to same-sex marriage yelled homophobic slurs at Ermold, Moore, Yates and Smith when they went to Davis’ office.
“Personal safety became more of a concern,” Yates testified. Ermold said he has a lingering fear that someone will burn his house or harm his animals. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before the controversy, but Davis’ actions amplified it, Ermold said. “I live in a perpetual state of fear.”
After licences were later issued to same-sex couples in Rowan County, a tearful Davis said in an interview that they were “not valid in God’s eyes” and that she was deeply hurt over being called a hypocrite and a homophobe.
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Plus she had an illegitimate child outside the ‘sanctity of holy matrimony’.
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