ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) — The latest on the county clerk in Kentucky who has refused to issue marriage licenses since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage (all times local):
UPDATED 3:20 p.m.: Five of the six deputy clerks in a Kentucky county say they will issue marriage licenses to gay couples, despite their boss’ refusal to do so.
The lone holdout among the deputy clerk’s is the clerk’s son, Nathan. His mother was jailed earlier Thursday when she refused to follow U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s order to hand out marriage licenses.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs have proposed releasing Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis out of custody if she agrees to not interfere with marriage licenses for gay couples.
The judge has agreed to the proposal and is now bringing Kim Davis back to the courtroom to see if she will agree.
(The version corrects that plaintiffs made the proposal, not attorneys for Davis)
UPDATED 1:45 p.m.: One of the plaintiffs in the gay marriage case in Kentucky testified that she actually voted for the clerk who has refused to hand out marriage licenses.
April Miller, a professor at Morehead State, said the past two months have been pretty demoralizing for her and her partner. She was asked during a court hearing Thursday whether a license would validate her marriage.
“Yeah, that’s what marriage is about – to show other people you are in a long-term relationship,” she said. “It is legitimized.”
She says when she went to get a license Tuesday, a deputy clerk told her she could go to a different county. Miller says that was kind of saying “we don’t want gays or lesbians here. We don’t think you are valuable.”
A judge jailed Rowan County clerk Kim Davis on Thursday for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
UPDATED The judge who jailed a Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses says he didn’t make the decision lightly.
In court on Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Bunning said he doesn’t think Rowan County clerk Kim Davis is combative. She has refused to issues licenses because of her religious beliefs about gay marriage.
But, Bunning said, “Her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense.”
Bunning also spoke of his own religious beliefs. But he said that the oath he took, and the oath Davis took, supersedes those beliefs.
Bunning also said that it’s not his job or the court’s job to write laws or make changes. But he noted that the legislative and executive branches can do so.
UPDATED 1:30 p.m.: A federal judge says he didn’t think fining a defiant Kentucky clerk would force her to comply with his order to issue marriage licenses.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis says her supporters are raising funds for her, but she herself hasn’t requested any money. Davis was jailed on Thursday.
Before that, she testified for about 20 minutes and said people are calling her office all the time wanting to send money.
She was asked if the county insurance would pay a fine, and she said: “I was told they would drop me like a hot potato.”
UPDATED 1:25 p.m.: The defiant Kentucky clerk has told a judge that she can’t comply with an order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because it would violate her conscience.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was jailed Thursday after she refused to comply with U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s order.
Davis testified for about 20 minutes and was very emotional. She talked about when she became a Christian.
“You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul,” she told the judge.
After she was jailed, hundreds of people outside the courthouse started chanting and screaming, “Love won! Love won!”
UPDATED 1:15 p.m.: A federal judge is warning deputy clerks in Kentucky that they must issue marriage licenses to gay couples or face fines or jail.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning already jailed Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis for refusing to comply with his order. She was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals on Thursday.
The judge gave the deputy clerks time to go meet with public defenders and said the hearing will resume at 1:45 p.m.
UPDATED: 1:05 p.m.: A federal judge has ordered a defiant Kentucky clerk to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the licenses. Davis said “thank you” before she was led out of the courtroom by a U.S. marshal. She was not in handcuffs.
Davis has refused to issue marriages licenses for two months since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. She argues that her Christian faith should exempt her from signing the licenses.
UPDATED: 11:20 a.m.: As hundreds of protesters gathered at the courthouse, there was no sign of the Kentucky clerk who was summoned to appear before a federal judge because she refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
It’s possible that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis used a gated entrance in the rear to enter the courthouse. She was ordered to appear before U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning at 11 a.m., but by that time, she had not entered through the front, where the crowds had gathered.
Davis faces the possibility of being held in contempt and could face hefty fines or even jail time.
A small plane flew over the courthouse, carrying a banner that said: “Stand Firm Kim.” On the courthouse sidewalk, gay marriage supporters shouted “love is not a sin” while at least three preachers with bullhorns called them sinners.
UPDATED: 10:30 a.m.: Hundreds of protesters have filled the street in front of the federal courthouse in Ashland as they wait for a hearing to start on the gay marriage case in Kentucky.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has defied federal court orders to hand out marriage licenses, saying her religious beliefs don’t let her endorse same-sex marriage. A judge has ordered her to appear Thursday. If she continues to refuse to follow the law, she could be hit with fines or jail time.
The demonstrators outside are waving signs, chanting and singing hymns as they wait for Davis to arrive.
Signs ranged from the violent — turn to Jesus or burn — to simple statements of support. The hearing starts at 11 a.m. EDT.
ASHLAND, Ky. — The county clerk in Kentucky who has repeatedly defied court orders by refusing to issue gay marriage licenses is set Thursday to go before a federal judge who could hold her in contempt.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis and her deputy clerks were summoned to appear before U.S. District Judge David Bunning after she repeatedly cited her religious beliefs and “God’s authority” in denying marriage licenses. If the judge holds Davis in contempt, he could hand out hefty fines or jail time.
Before the hearing, hundreds of protesters on both sides of the issue filled the street in front of the federal courthouse. The demonstrators chanted, sang hymns and waved signs, which ranged from the violent — turn to Jesus or burn — to simple statements of support.
Davis stopped issuing licenses to all couples in June after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. Despite rulings against her, she’s turned away couples again and again.
The couples who originally sued in the case have asked Bunning to punish Davis with fines but not jail time.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, said earlier this week she never imagined this day would come.
“I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s word,” her statement said.
Her critics mock this moral stand, noting that Davis is on her fourth husband after being divorced three times.
Davis served as her mother’s deputy in the clerk’s office for 27 years before she was elected as a Democrat to succeed her mother in November. Davis’ own son is on the staff.
As an elected official, she can be removed only if the Legislature impeaches her, which is unlikely in a deeply conservative state.
Judge Bunning is the son of Jim Bunning, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies who served two terms as Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator. Former Republican President George W. Bush nominated David Bunning for a lifetime position as a federal judge in 2001 when he was just 35 years old, halfway through his dad’s first term in the Senate.
But Bunning has been anything but a sure thing for conservative causes. In 2007, he was part of a three-judge panel on a federal appeals court that overturned Michigan’s ban on partial-birth abortion. The panel ruled the state’s law was too broad and would outlaw other legal forms of abortion.
In 2003, Bunning ordered the Boyd County School District to allow the student club Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus.
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