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With Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis jailed for refusing to follow
the orders of U.S. District Judge David Bunning, her deputies issued
a marriage license to James Yates and William Smith on Friday. The
couple had previously been denied five times.
However, Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel which represents
Davis, said he believes Friday's licenses are invalid because they
were not issued with her approval. Davis' name does not appear on
the licenses.
"They are not worth the paper they are printed on," Staver said,
standing in front of the Grayson, Kentucky, detention center where
Davis is being held. He added she had no intention of resigning as
clerk.
Davis is being held in isolation and has been reading the Bible, he
said.
With people weighing in on both sides, Davis' jailing has come to
symbolize the cultural gap over gay marriage in the United States.
And the fight over same-sex marriage licenses may not end in
Kentucky. In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere a number of clerks and
judges who stated their opposition to gay marriage have thrown up
roadlocks to the unions.
A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in the United States this week showed
49.2 percent of those surveyed support same-sex marriages, 36.5
percent oppose them, and 14.3 percent are unsure. The poll had a
credibility interval of 2.6 percent.
Davis, who as an Apostolic Christian believes a marriage can only be
between a man and a woman, had refused to issue any marriage
licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court in June made gay marriage
legal across the United States.
Yates and Smith, who held hands entering and exiting the building,
paid $35.50 in cash for the license. Deputy clerk Brian Mason, who
had a sign in the office reading "marriage license deputy," shook
their hands and congratulated them.
As Yates and Smith left the building, supporters chanted "Love has
won!" Yates said all he wanted to do was hug his parents.
Off to the side, a Davis backer holding a Bible preached against
homosexuality.
It was the 100th marriage license issued by the clerk's office this
year and the first since the Supreme Court ruling.
About two hours later, another couple, Timothy and Michael Long, got
their marriage license. Michael changed his last name a few years
ago when the couple had a private civil ceremony.
"People shouldn't have to go through what we've been through just to
get a basic right," Timothy Long said.
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"SAD DAY IN AMERICA"
In the afternoon, April Miller and Karen Roberts, one of four
couples who sued Davis in July for not issuing them licenses,
received one. A fourth gay couple, David Moore and David Ermold, got
a license toward the end of the day.
Emotions have run high on all sides. Davis, and an attorney for one
of the four couples who sued, said they had received death threats.
The judge also reportedly received a death threat.
Outside the courthouse in Morehead, Kentucky, where the clerk's
office is located, about 40 people demonstrated, far fewer than the
200 protesters on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Ashland,
where Davis was found in contempt.
On Friday morning, Davis' husband stood outside the county
courthouse, holding a sign that read, "Welcome to Sodom and
Gomorrah." He said his wife was in good spirits after her first
night in jail, adding she had no plans to resign and was prepared to
remain in jail for as long as she felt necessary.
"We don't hate these people," he said. "That's the furthest thing
from our hearts. We don't hate nobody. We just want to have the same
rights that they have."
Lifelong Morehead resident Michele Kinder, 44, voiced support for
the county clerk. "It's a sad day in America when you can be
arrested for your Christian beliefs."
Bunning did not say how long Davis would remain in jail. Staver said
he did not know either, but her attorneys planned to file an appeal
of the contempt order later on Friday.
Meanwhile, she is waiting for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, to rule on her request to set
aside Bunning's ruling. In denying the request for a stay on the
order, the appeals court said there was little chance she would
prevail.
(Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Writing by David Bailey and Ben
Klayman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Shumaker)
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