Despite the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling of 5-4 in the same-sex marriage case, many clerks refuse to give out licenses. Recently, Kim Davis has been all over the news due to her denial of gay marriage licenses and her subsequent arrest. And, although Davis’ case has been great for exposure, some people do not realize the amount of clerks still refusing to provide same-sex couples with the marriage licenses they are legally entitled to.

Several states have found their way around clerks having to issue marriage licenses that they do not believe in handing out. The law in Alabama states that judges “may” issue licenses rather than “shall” and over ten counties have closed their marriage license operations.

In North Carolina, more than 30 clerks have refused to perform same-sex marriages due to a law allowing officials to refrain from conducting “marriage-related duties.” Since this law has been put in effect, clerks with objection due to religious affiliations may withstand. The state of Utah also has a similar law.

A judge from Oregon, named Vance Day, has never performed a same-sex marriage since he joined the bench in 2011. He stopped performing all marriages this spring. Currently there is an investigation of his practice. Day has defended his actions saying that whenever a same-sex couple came in, he would redirect them to another judge in the country and his spokesperson, Patrick Korten has stated, “He has a right to those beliefs under the United States Constitution.”

Kim Davis, from Kentucky, was recently jailed for denying same-sex couples licenses. She was released due to her office issuing licenses in her absence. She said that her refusal was because otherwise it would go against her Apostolic Christian beliefs.

Obergefall v. Hodges was the U.S. Supreme Court case finding state bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional under the 14^th Amendment. In the United States it stands that gay marriage is legal, if you live in the right state and go to the right marriage license office.