Gov. Matt Bevin pledged to help Davis and others like her if election. And now he has, with the issuance of a new executive order:
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order removing county clerk's names from marriage licenses on Tuesday...Ultimately, this is all window-dressing. Bevin and Davis both want to ban same-sex couples from marrying altogether. This executive order does nothing. Davis will still need to process marriage license applications. Her name just won't be on the licenses.
Davis has long advocated for her name to be removed from the licenses: "I can't put my name on a license that doesn't represent what God ordained marriage to be," she said earlier this year.
Judge David Bunning released Davis from jail in early September after marriage licenses in Rowan County were altered to remove her name and replace it with the county's name. Though the removal of her name was a quick fix, controversy arose about whether or not the licenses would be legal without her name.
Bevin's executive order resolves this matter, as the nameless licenses are now the standard statewide. His statement reads as such:To ensure that the sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored, Executive Order 2015-048 directs the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives to issue a revised marriage license form to the offices of all Kentucky County Clerks. The name of the County Clerk is no longer required to appear on the form.