|
 The meeting with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, and comments by the
pope on Monday, may spur action by local officials across the United
States who have refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples
since the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision to legalize same-sex
marriage in all 50 states.
Mat Staver, an attorney for Davis and founder of Liberty Counsel, a
law firm that champions conservative Christian causes, told Reuters
the meeting was not about sending a message to other clerks or
judges who have been unwilling to issue marriage licenses for
same-sex couples.
“It was really a meeting between the Pope and Kim Davis and her
husband Joe to encourage her,” he said. "It was an amazing
opportunity for her to meet the Pope, and for him to be able to
stand beside another Christian and to encourage another person who
exercised her faith and went to jail for it.”
Staver would not say whether the Vatican or Davis’s representatives
had initiated contact about a meeting.
 But the meeting angered gay activists and came as a frustrating
letdown for gay and other liberal American Catholics, many of whom
had been encouraged by an earlier remark by Pope Francis that "If
someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I
to judge?"
The comment was widely interpreted as a signal that the Church’s
hardline stance on homosexuality was softening, a perception that
the pope said little to change during his U.S. visit.
According to a new Ipsos/Reuters online poll, 73 percent of
respondents said they strongly agreed or agreed somewhat with the
pope's statement.
"The news that Pope Francis met privately ... with Kim Davis throws
a wet blanket on the good will that the pontiff had garnered during
his U.S. visit," Francis DeBernardo, executive director of gay and
lesbian Catholic advocacy group New Ways Ministry, said in an
emailed statement.
"Pope Francis needs to state clearly where he stands in regard to
the inclusion of LGBT people in the church and society."
Still, Pope Francis is enjoying strong approval ratings from
Americans of all political stripes, according to the poll, conducted
Sept. 21-28, before the meeting with Davis was disclosed. Some 60
percent said they had a favorable opinion of the pontiff while only
10 percent viewed him unfavorably.
One respondent, 67-year-old Catholic Judy Fitzpatrick, said the
meeting did not change her favorable opinion about the pope, even
though she thinks Davis should step down as county clerk if she
can't abide by the law.
"Any time you get people talking and meeting and listening, even if
they don't agree, as long as there is a dialogue, I think we are
better as a nation," said Fitzpatrick, who describes herself as a
moderate Republican.
Davis and her husband met the pope on Thursday during the Washington
leg of his U.S. visit, she and her lawyer said. The Vatican
confirmed the meeting. Davis could not be reached for comment.
"He told me before he left ... 'Stay strong.' That was a great
encouragement," Davis told ABC, saying that her meeting with Pope
Francis "kind of validates everything."
As the pope returned from his 10-day trip to the United States and
Cuba on Monday, he said government officials had a "human right" to
refuse to discharge a duty if they felt it violated their
conscience.
[to top of second column] |
In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere a number of clerks and judges have
stated their opposition to gay marriage and have mounted roadblocks
to such unions.
Alabama Probate Judge Nick Williams, who has refused for months to
issue any marriage licenses at all in Washington County while courts
sort out a maze of lawsuits and orders, said he was inspired by
Davis’ meeting with the Pope.
“I’d say the Pope has a better understanding of the U.S.
Constitution than the U.S. Supreme Court at this time,” Williams
told Reuters on Wednesday. “Even an elected, public official doesn’t
check their rights at the door when they get elected.”
Davis was jailed for five days in September for refusing to comply
with a judge's order to issue marriage licenses in line with the
Supreme Court ruling.
Davis has said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevent her
from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her church
belongs to a Protestant movement known as Apostolic Pentecostalism.
To keep a low profile, Davis went to the Vatican embassy in a sports
utility vehicle with her hair in a different style than her normal
look, Staver told CBS.
While conservative Christians, including some Republican
presidential candidates, have said Davis is standing up for
religious freedom, the American Civil Liberties Union has argued she
has a responsibility as an official to issue the licenses,
regardless of her views.
The ACLU went to court to ensure same-sex couples can obtain
marriage licenses in Rowan County. In papers filed on Sept. 21 it
asked the judge hearing the case to require Davis to stop making
alterations to the licenses, such as removing any reference to the
county clerk's office.
Plaintiffs who have sued Davis in federal court indicated the pope's
meeting has no legal effect.
"The pope is not an American citizen, and he is not a member of our
government. He is entitled to meet with whoever he likes and have
any opinion he wants to have," Joe Dunman, an attorney representing
plaintiff couples suing Davis, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago, Alex Dobuzinskis in Los
Angeles, Curtis Skinner in San Francisco, Philip Pullella in Rome,
Steve Bittenbender in Louisville, Kentucky, Fiona Ortiz in Chicago,
Laila Kearney and Frank McGurty in New York; Writing by Jeffrey
Benkoe and Frank McGurty; Editing by Lisa Lambert and James
Dalgleish)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
