Second Same-Sex Couple Gets License In Rowan County As Religious Activists Call Them ‘Perverts’

Another same-sex couple has received a marriage license from Kim Davis’ office, but not without an ugly scene from so-called Christians.

Tim Long and Michael Long, together nine years, walked into the Rowan County, Kentucky courthouse today and became the second same-sex couple to receive a marriage license, 71 days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in support of marriage equality.

The Longs, who in 2008 had a commitment ceremony and changed their names, had been denied by the Rowan County office once before, after county clerk Kim Davis mandated no marriage licenses would be issued because same-sex marriage violates her personal religious beliefs.

Just a few hours earlier, James Yates and William Smith, Jr., who had sued Davis for being refused a marriage license six times since July, became the first couple to wed in Rowan County since the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling in June.

As the couple were getting their license, however, two protestors inside the office, loudly called them “perverts,” as Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden reported.

Davis’ husband, also present, muttered “disgrace,” and walked out, according to local reporters.

Outside, another protestor also used the word “perverts” in his attacks.

But the Longs were not dismayed.

“We feel like we are accepted, like everyone else,” Tim Long told the Courier-Journal. 

Even the protesters’ words “don’t hurt as bad, because love wins,” Tim said.

The couple said the marriage certificate solidifies their commitment ceremony.

“I just never thought it would happen,” he said. “We waited for years and years and years.”

 

Image by Dominic Holden via Twitter