Oregon Judge Refuses to Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

An Oregon judge has reportedly refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses after a Kentucky county clerk went to jail for the same refusal.

Marion County judge Vance Day has reportedly refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds, prompting a state commission to open an investigation into his actions.

A spokesperson for Marion County recently told The Guardian that Day initially referred same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses to other judges, and now he has refused to perform marriages, whether heterosexual or homosexual, all together.

"He made a decision nearly a year ago to stop doing weddings altogether, and the principal factor that he weighed was the pressure that one would face to perform a same-sex wedding, which he had a conflict with his religious beliefs," spokesman Patrick Korten said in a statement.

Korten added to KGW TV that Day made his decision based on his "deeply-held religious beliefs," adding that the refusal of gay marriage licenses is an "exercise of his religious freedom rights under the First Amendment."

Kim Davis, the county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, was recently arrested after she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Davis was held in contempt after refusing to issue the licenses and refusing to resign from her post. She was arrested after being ordered by the Supreme Court to issue the licenses.

The Kentucky county clerk has argued that it is within her religious freedom rights to refuse issuing the licenses.