Kentucky Judge Who Refused To Hear Gay Adoption Cases Resigns

LOUISVILLE, KY – Kentucky judge W. Mitchell Nance whom you will remember made national headlines earlier this year over his refusal to hear adoption cases pertaining to gay, lesbian or bisexual adults, has resigned.

In a filing to the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission on Wednesday, Judge W. Mitchell Nance submitted his resignation from his post and it will take effect on Saturday Dec. 16.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as well as other human rights groups had filed a complaint back in May of this year with the commission after Judge Nance recused himself from presiding over adoption cases that involved LGBTQ couples based on his religious beliefs.

One of the parties to the complaint, Louisville, Kentucky-based Fairness Campaign advocacy group which focuses on preventing discrimination, said that Judge Nance had shown by his decision that he could not be impartial when it came to LGBTQ citizens and their families.

“I hope this sends a message to judges across the country that if their conscience conflicts with their duty, they must leave the bench,” said the group’s director Chris Hartman said in a statement.

According to the Kentucky commission, Nance said..”He cannot grant adoptions to same-sex couples because of his belief that “the divinely created order of nature is that each human being has a male parent and a female parent.”

However judge Nance didn’t have issues amending custodial rights in cases where a same-sex couple already had a parent-child relationship, the commission’s documents noted, nor did Nance have any religious belief problems presiding over domestic violence orders involving LGBTQ couples.

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