“Hi. My name is April Miller and Kim Davis just denied me a marriage license.”
Ten years ago, I answered that call from Morehead, Kentucky. I was the ACLU of Kentucky’s communications director at the time, and I knew immediately what April’s call meant. Without a single finger fumble I forwarded the call to our then-legal director, William Sharp, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Obergefell case, which enshrined the freedom to marry into law, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis announced she would stop issuing marriage licenses to any couples, straight or gay, because of her religious objections to marriage for same-sex couples. The ACLU of Kentucky was honored to represent four couples — two gay and two straight in suing Davis. Our argument was simple; Kim Davis’s personal religious beliefs did not excuse her from doing her job: to certify that couples were qualified to marry under Kentucky law.
The case drew intense media scrutiny. Our brave clients were put under international scrutiny. While the case was being litigated all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States and back down to the District Court level, Rowan County residents, known as the Rowan County Rights Coalition, organized protests in front of the Clerk’s Office. Every single day, they demanded that Davis do her job. A couple of Governors, the band Survivor, and even the Pope were swept up in the firestorm in the months that followed.
Ultimately, love won. Our clients, April Miller and Karen Roberts, Jody Fernandez and Kevin Holloway, and Aaron Skaggs and Barry W. Spartman were able to receive their marriage licenses. Their bravery and perseverance to secure legal protection for their families, and all Kentuckians, are exemplary in the ACLU of Kentucky’s 70-year history of protecting and advancing civil rights and civil liberties in the commonwealth.
A decade after this victory, anti-LGBTQ activists and politicians are spearheading attacks against the rights of LGBTQ people to participate in public life. Many of these attacks, from statehouses to the White House, target the rights and lives of transgender people. Just this month, the Supreme Court handed down a devastating and cruel ruling, allowing bans on the lifesaving medical care transgender youth need to stay in place in half of the states in the country, including Kentucky.
In this critical moment for LGBTQ rights, we must unite against discrimination and division. We envision a future where LGBTQ individuals thrive in safe schools, empowered communities, and loving families. We reject the politics of cynicism that demand we silence our voices, shrink our needs, and simply give up in the face of an unrelenting assault on our rights. Inspired by our Rowan County clients, the Rowan County Rights Coalition, and in loving memory of Barry Spartman who passed away in 2022, we stand committed to a world where all people deserve safe schools, strong communities, loving families, and self-determination over their bodies and future.
This year marks the ACLU of Kentucky’s 70th anniversary. In honor of the organization’s anniversary and the 10th anniversary of Miller v. Davis, ACLU-KY will host a panel discussion and reception with our former clients in Morehead on Thursday, June 26th at 5-7 p.m. at Sawstone Brewery. Registration for the event is available online.
Amber G. Duke is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky