Kim Davis Situation Highlights White House Hypocrisy

Five out of six deputies in her office, however, said they would be willing to grant licenses to same-sex couples, and at least three such couples have obtained them today. Deputy clerk Brian Mason, who had a sign in the office reading “marriage licence deputy”, shook their hands and congratulated them.

Amanda Hill-Attkisson, deputy director for Georgia Equality, said she worries that the attention on Davis, especially now that she is in jail, may energize opponents of same-sex marriage.

The highly controversial Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is sticking to her religious convictions, refusing to resign from her job and expecting the local government to give in first. US District Judge David Bunning said she could remain in prison for up to a week.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in a 5-4 case that same-sex couples can not be denied marriage licenses under the 14th Amendment.

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Davis, 49, has spent her entire life in Rowan County, where 96% of people are white and more than a fourth live in poverty.

“I think he was trying to make an example of Kim Davis, and he may well do so”, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which lobbies against gay marriage.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said Friday that the licenses that were handed out Friday are void and “not worth paper that they are written on”.

Before we anoint Kim Davis a saint for her stand on gay marriage licenses, I would like her supporters to answer two questions (“Ky. clerk rebuffs judge, to stay jailed” September 4).

There were a large number of supporters who turned out for Davis, but there were those who also disagreed with him.

Elsewhere this week, judges cited novel reasons why they couldn’t conduct typically basic tasks in the wake of marriage equality. “So however long that lasts, in terms of the consequences, she is prepared to accept them”. He told reporters in Morehead on Friday that Kim Davis would not resign from her position.

Their refusal stems from authority granted under a recent state law that exempts court officials from conducting a marriage if they say they have a “sincerely held religious objection” to gay marriage. A number of judges and clerks in Texas, Alabama and elsewhere have thrown up roadblocks to same-sex marriage.

“It is a disappointing thing when you find out that exercising your first amendment rights suddenly becomes a jailable offense”, he said. When she refused, she was jailed for contempt.

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected the argument that her faith prevented her from carrying out her duty.

“That would show a level of disrespect for the court’s order”, Bunning said.

A larger rally has been planned for Tuesday by Republican presidential candidate and minister Mike Huckabee, who plans to visit Davis in jail and then protest outside against what he calls the “criminalization of Christianity in this country”.