Last year, Amanda Abramovich and Samantha Brookover headed to their county clerk's office in West Virginia to receive a marriage license. What should have been one of the happiest days of their lives quickly took a sour turn.
A deputy clerk in Gilmer County allegedly chastised the women as she processed their marriage license, calling them an "abomination" and telling them God would "deal" with them, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
A year and a half later, the Gilmer County clerk's office is paying Abramovich and Brookover, who have been together for seven years, $10,000 in damages and issuing them an apology, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Deputy Clerk Debbie Allen slammed the paperwork on the desk, said she was a Christian and called the couple an "abomination" in a rant that continued for several minutes, according to court documents. Another clerk joined in, shouting that it was Allen's "religious right" to harass the couple, according to the complaint.
The Supreme Court had ruled seven months earlier that the Constitution gives same-sex couples the right to wed, no matter where in America they live.
They received their marriage license, but it was not the joyous day the women or their family members, who came with a camera, had hoped for.
When Brookover's mother later called the county clerk's office to report the encounter, she said County Clerk Jean Butcher told her she knew about the interaction and believed the couple deserved the treatment they received. The next same-sex couple that sought a marriage license, she allegedly said, "would get the same or worse" treatment.
She did acknowledge that she told the couple what they were doing was wrong and God would judge them, according to the Gazette-Mail.
"I just told them my opinion," she said. "I just felt led to do that. I believe God was standing with me and that's just my religious belief."
But in a news release on Aug. 30, Gilmer County seemed to do an about-face. The county acknowledged that Brookover and Abramovich "were disrespected and disparaged by staff" because they were a same-sex couple.
"That was wrong," the news release stated. "It is the policy of Gilmer County and the Gilmer County Clerk's Office that all people seeking services and doing business with the County will be treated courteously and with respect regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."
The lawsuit, which was filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Fairness West Virginia and the law firm Mayer Brown, sought damages for the emotional distress caused by Allen's actions.
In addition to paying the couple $10,000, the county also agreed to require all officials and employees of the county commission and county clerk's office to participate in a training program provided by Fairness West Virginia, an advocacy organization dedicated to the fair and equal treatment of LGBT West Virginians.
