Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway,
a Democrat, has said he decided against defending the state's ban on
gay marriage because he wanted to be on “the right side of
history.”
After U.S. District Judge John G.
Heyburn II ordered the state to recognize the out-of-state marriages
of gay and lesbian couples, Conway announced that he would not defend
in court Kentucky's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
On Wednesday, Heyburn put his decision
on hold as the state pursues an appeal in the case without Conway's
participation.
(Related: Gay
marriage recognition in Kentucky put on hold as ruling is appealed.)
“I felt like that from a fiscal
responsibility standpoint, I didn't need to be wasting taxpayers
resources in a lawsuit that we weren't going to win, or in an appeal
that we weren't going to win,” Conway said during a HuffPost
Live interview. “For the sake of my daughter's view on my
public service in the future, I wanted to be on the right side of
history.”