Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to David Ermold and his partner of 15-years in August 2015 on religious grounds against same-sex marriage.
And now, over two years later, Ermold, an assistant professor of English at the University of Pikeville, was face-to-face with Davis again as he filed to run for her job. On Wednesday, Ermold, who was joined by husband David Moore, sat across from Davis in her office to file paperwork to run for County clerk.
In November, Davis announced that she will be running for a second term. It’s the first chance Rowan County voters will get to have a say in the controversy that dominated news in 2015.
“May the best candidate win,” Davis, an Apostolic Christian, told Ermold, according to the Associated Press.
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m LGBT or not. If I’m qualified to do a job, I should be able to do the job,” Ermold told the AP.
“As county clerk, I will act responsibly with taxpayer money, and I will seek out ways to be cost efficient … and I will keep accurate records of all transactions,” Ermold’s campaign website states.
Davis’ refusal first came to light on a national stage nine days after the Supreme Court upheld the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Ermold and Moore filmed their trip to her office to request a marriage license – which she refused to issue. The couple shared their video days after the ACLU announced it was filing a suit against Davis on behalf of two straight couples and two gay couples.
Weeks after the incident, Davis was jailed for nearly a week for violating an order by a federal judge to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Essentially, Davis was freed because her deputy clerks were issuing marriage licenses in her stead.