CHRIS TILLEY/REUTERS Carmen and Shannon Wampler-Collins hug after they receive their marriage license from the Rowan County Clerk’s Office.
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Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was briefly jailed for contempt of court after she ignored direct orders from a court, by continuing to refusing to let gay couples marry.
What hurts me the worst is when someone tells me that my god does not love me.
The judge released her from jail on September 8, saying he was satisfied her deputies had fulfilled her office’s obligations to issue the licenses. The new licenses say they were issued not under the authority of the county clerk, but “pursuant to federal court order”. The ACLU’s lawyers have requested that Judge Bunning place Davis’ office in receivership if she continues to alter the licenses.
Lawyers for the couples seeking marriages licenses have asked the court to step in yet again to enforce the court order legalizing gay marriage throughout the United States.
But when Davis returned to work last week, she confiscated the marriage licences and replaced them.
According to the ACLU, which is representing a group of Rowan county couples, Davis’ changes to m “resulted in material alterations to those licenses that render their validity questionable at best”.
“Well, my constituents elected me, but the main authority that rules my life is the Lord,” Davis responded. The objective of a marriage license is to indicate to the government that the two of you are a couple, with all the rights, responsibilities and privileges that entails. “I think dignity is something that you find within yourself”. That means that a judge could appoint an outside person for the goal of overseeing the issuance of marriage licenses, in order to ensure the licenses being issued are valid. Asked if she would deny licenses to gay friends, she said, “I did”.
Davis says the controversy in which she has found herself does not hurt her.
Davis has also received signs of support: notes, prayer shawls and crosses. She said this during her first TV interview.
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“They know where I stand, and we don’t agree on this issue, and we’re okay, because we respect each other”, she said. “I’ve had people yellin’ and screamin’ and cussin’ me”, Davis told ABC News correspondent Paula Farisin a segment that aired on Good Morning America. Most people would just leave a job if they are unable to perform their duties.
