A federal court heard testimony Monday in a lawsuit against a Kentucky county clerk who is refusing on religious grounds to issue marriage licenses to any couple as a way of blocking gay and lesbian couples from marrying in the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed the lawsuit on behalf of four Rowan County couples who claim they were denied marriage licenses by County Clerk Kim Davis. The plaintiffs include two same-sex couples and two opposite-sex couples denied marriage licenses. The ACLU is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, which if granted, would include as plaintiffs all individuals who are qualified to marry and who intend to seek a marriage license from the Rowan County Clerk.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning heard arguments Monday on the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction ordering Davis to begin issuing licenses. Judge Bunning did not issue an immediate ruling on that request, saying he wanted to hear Davis’ testimony directly. Davis was not present at Monday’s hearing.

“We are happy our clients had the opportunity to explain to a judge their experience of being denied marriage licenses they are eligible for in Rowan County,” said William Sharp, legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky, in a statement following the hearing.

“The vast majority of Kentucky county clerk’s offices, and municipalities across the United States for that matter, are open to everyone on the same terms, including to people who are gay and lesbian,” said Michael Aldridge, executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky in a statement following the hearing. “Rowan County is one of three counties in Kentucky currently violating the rights of everyone that is eligible for a marriage license (both gay and straight couples) in an attempt to keep same-gender couples from obtaining licenses and that’s wrong. Government officials, who have sworn an oath to uphold the law shouldn’t be able to pick and choose who they’re going to serve, or which duties they will perform, based on their religious beliefs.”

Kentucky is not alone in its pockets of resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergerfell v. Hodges striking state-level same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional. At least two judges in southern Missouri refuse to marry any couples, while Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) issued an executive order purporting to protect state government employees from lawsuits should they refuse services to gay and lesbian couples. Meanwhile Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced shortly after the Obergerfell decision that clerks in the state could refuse to marry gay and lesbian couples on religious grounds.

Once Davis signs paperwork acknowledging she has received the complaint, a new hearing could take place within days.