Ala. Judge Follows Kim Davis, Requests to be Exempt from Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses

An Alabama judge has recently filed a request to be exempt from issuing same-sex marriage licenses based on his religious beliefs after Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis did the same.

Nick Williams, probate judge of Washington County, filed a request with the state's Supreme Court to be exempt from issuing same-sex marriage licenses based on his religious beliefs.

"The jailing of Kentucky clerk Kimberly B. Davis put at immediate risk the liberty interest of all faithful and religiously sincere public officials in Alabama whose office has responsibility for making decisions as to whether to give sanction and honor to homosexual relationships to include the issuance of a license to engage in sodomy," Williams, who submitted his petition for exemption through his attorneys, argued.

Williams added to NBC News that although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, he disagrees that the highest court's ruling should be the final decision on the controversial issue.

Kim Davis, clerk for Rowan Counnty in Kentucky, has requested multiple times that her office be exempt from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Davis has cited her Christian faith as the reason she wishes to be exempt, saying she has been faced with the "seemingly impossible" decision to pick between her job duties and her conscience.

Davis was jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses earlier this month, but was subsequently released after six days and ordered by a district judge not to not stand in the way of her deputies issuing gay marriage licenses.

While Davis' deputies have been able to issue the licenses, the clerk has questioned their validity since the licenses do not have her signature.