A gay man to whom Rowan, Kentucky county
clerk Kim Davis two years ago refused to issue a marriage license
filed paperwork on Wednesday challenging her for her job.
David Ermold returned to the Rowan
County courthouse where Davis refused him to submit paperwork to
enter the race. Davis accepted his forms.
Davis became a Christian celebrity when
she refused to obey the Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling that found
that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry.
She told Ermold and his now husband David Moore that her office was
not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on the “authority of
God.” Davis served five days in jail after she was declared in
contempt of court for ignoring a court order requiring her office to
begin issuing marriage licenses to all couples.
Three other candidates are challenging
Davis.
“I don't think I know that the people
in the county are ready to move on,” Ermold told the AP. “They
want her out of office is what they want. And I think that we should
have somebody in there that's qualified. Somebody in there that's
compassionate. Somebody that's in there that understands public
service.”
“A county clerk's job is an
administrative job. That's what it is. It's to serve the people of
our county. That's what that person is there to do. They are not
there to get all kinds of attention outside of the area, to bring in
outside organizations, bring in that money and send a divisive
message out there, and to divide the people.”
“I do not want to run a campaign that
is red and blue, because, you know, the issues here they're not owned
by one party. Fairness, responsibility, these are things that should
be important to everyone,” he
added.
Ermold teaches English at the
University of Pikeville.
Davis, who has worked in the clerk's
office for nearly three decades, was elected county clerk in 2014 as
a Democrat, but has since switched her registration to Republican.