Unitarian minister in Kentucky refuses to sign marriage licences until gay couples are given marriage equality

Reverend Dawn Cooley has refused
to sign any more marriage licences
until gay couples have full civil
marriage rights

By Christopher Brocklebank  -


A Unitarian minister in Kentucky has pledged that she will not sign any more marriage licences until the state makes same-sex marriages legal.

This came after the congregation at Reverend Dawn Cooley’s church – the First Unitarian Church in Old Louisville, Kentucky – voted on Sunday to not have their minister sign such licences “until Kentucky ceases to discriminate against same-sex couples with respect to civil marriage.”

Reverend Cooley, who wrote on her blog that although she would continue to perform religious marriage ceremonies for both gay and straight couples, she would not perform the civil function of signing marriage licences on behalf of the state.

Cooley said heterosexual couples have the option of having their marriage licence signed by a justice of the peace or “choose not to have their licences signed, and stand with gay and lesbian couples and not participate in civil marriage until it is a civil right.”