A 49-year-old county clerk in Kentucky could face jail for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples because of her Christian beliefs.
Kim Davis has been ordered to appear in a district court tomorrow and could be fined or jailed for contempt if she continues to break the law by refusing to do the job she was elected to.
Davis, clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky continued to refuse licences to couples on Tuesday, even after a court order for her to comply. Steven Beshear, governor of Kentucky, has insisted all county clerks comply.
Davis was elected to her post for a four-year term last November. It was extremely unusual for the position to be contested.
After the Supreme Court allowed gay marriages this summer, Davis – who has been divorced three times and is married a fourth time – requested that she be exempted on grounds of religious belief.
After she was confronted by one of the disappointed couples in her office, who questioned under what authority she was breaking the law, she replied: "Under God's authority."
She said in a statement she had received death threats but was determined to abide by her conscience: "In addition to my desire to serve the people of Rowan County, I owe my life to Jesus Christ who loves me and gave His life for me. Following the death of my godly mother-in-law over four years ago, I went to church to fulfil her dying wish. There I heard a message of grace and forgiveness and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I am not perfect. No one is. But I am forgiven and I love my Lord and must be obedient to Him and to the Word of God."
She added: "To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God's definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. I was elected by the people to serve as the County Clerk. I intend to continue to serve the people of Rowan County, but I cannot violate my conscience."
Her obduracy in the face of the law made her the number one trending topic on Twitter.
The New York Times tweeted:
Her own marital history inevitably became the grounds of much comment:
She converted after her third divorce. David Badash tweeted: "Kim Davis: a Christian for four years. One couple she's preventing from marrying: committed partners for 17 years."
Liberty Counsel, the Christian group fighting her corner, called for prayers, posting on Facebook: "Even though they can go to any of 137 other clerks, today the militant homosexuals who sued her will be on her front step FORCING her to choose between obeying Scripture or going to jail."
