Kim Davis says she won’t interfere with deputy clerks
Rowan County clerk's lawyers question validity of licenses as they ask for further delays
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis won’t be blocking any marriage licenses from being issued, but that isn’t stopping her lawyers from arguing against the validity of those licenses issued by her deputies.
Davis, reading aloud from a hand-written statement, returned to work on Monday, a little less than a week after being released from jail, where she served five days for defying a federal judge’s order to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples, including same-sex ones.
“I didn’t want to have this conflict. I don’t want to be in the spotlight. And I certainly don’t want to be a whipping post,” Davis said. “I am no hero. I’m just a person that’s been transformed by the grace of God, who wants to work, be with my family. I just want to serve my neighbors quietly without violating my conscience.”
But even though Davis’ deputies have complied with an order by U.S. District Judge David Bunning to keep issuing licenses to same-sex couples, Davis and her lawyers from Liberty Counsel have questioned whether the licenses, given out without her authorization, are valid. Davis’ primary objection is that she believes same-sex marriage to be a sin, according to her religious beliefs. As such, she feels that marriage licenses from Rowan County bearing her name and official title somehow constitute an endorsement of same-sex nuptials. Her lawyers have filed a motion to compel Gov. Steve Beshear (D) to either issue an executive order or call back a special session of the legislature to make exemptions for county clerks who oppose gay marriage by allowing them to take their names off marriage licenses.
According to the Associated Press, on Friday, Davis’ lawyers also filed an appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the two same-sex couples who sued Davis for a license received one from her deputies while she was in jail. Therefore, they argued, her office shouldn’t be forced to issue any more licenses to any other same-sex couples. But Bunning says his mandate to issue licenses applies to all same-sex couples, not just those who sued Davis.
Due to her refusal to violate her religious beliefs, Davis has become a hero to social conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage. Last week, presidential candidates Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) traveled to Kentucky to meet with Davis, with the former headlining a rally for her outside the Carter County Detention Center upon her release from jail.
But her stance has also alienated large swaths of liberal-leaning Americans, who feel Davis should do her job as long as she collects a government salary. Planting Peace, a nonprofit organization that advocates for LGBT rights, recently erected a billboard in Davis’ hometown of Morehead, Ky., criticizing her and her supporters for their stance against the alleged “redefinition” of marriage. The billboard reads: “Dear Kim Davis, the fact that you can’t sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we’ve already redefined marriage.”
Aaron Jackson, the president of Planting Peace, told USA Today that the billboard is intended to expose the hypocrisy of the anti-LGBT movement, and how opponents are “selective in what rules to follow and how they choose to define ‘traditional’ institutions of values.”
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