Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, newly released from jail and overcome with emotion, tried Tuesday several times to speak to the roaring crowd before she finally got the words out.
“I just want to give God the glory,” said Mrs. Davis at the #I’mWithKim rally in Grayson, Kentucky. “His people have rallied and you are a strong people!”
Mrs. Davis, flanked by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and her attorney Mathew Staver, was released by a judge a few hours before the event kicked off outside the Carver County Detention Center.
She was jailed for contempt six days ago by U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning for refusing to issue marriage licenses — for opposite-sex or same-sex couples — after the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision in favor of gay marriage.
While critics have denounced her for refusing to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, calling her actions lawless, Mrs. Davis has said she seeks a conscience exemption based on her Christian beliefs.
Her attorneys have filed appeals and asked Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to provide a “reasonable, sensible accommodation” by allowing her to remove her name from Rowan County marriage licenses and having her deputies issue the licenses.
“From the outset of this case, Kim Davis has proposed numerous simple options to protect her sincerely held religious beliefs,” said Mr. Staver in a statement. “These less-restrictive solutions are readily available, and easily accomplished by the Governor and the state agency responsible for designing the revised marriage form at issue in this litigation.”
Mr. Beshear, a Democrat like Mrs. Davis, has called the situation a matter for the courts. As an elected official, Mrs. Davis can be impeached, but not fired.
In his order releasing Mrs. Davis, the judge said that she “shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.”
“If Defendant Davis should interfere in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a violation of this Order and appropriate sanctions will be considered,” said Judge Bunning.
Mr. Huckabee, who’s seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said Tuesday that “if somebody needs to go to jail, I’m willing to go in her place, and I mean that, because I’m tired of watching people being just harassed because they believe something of their faith.”
During the rally, Mr. Huckabee warned attendees that they could be the next to find themselves in jail. Those in the crowd, estimated by Reuters at more than 1,000, waved signs and crosses, and chanted “We’re with Kim!”
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“Ladies and gentlemen, your prayers have been answered. Kim will tonight go home. She will be with her family. She will sleep in her own bed,” Mr. Huckabee said. “But all of us need to ask: Who’s next? Your pastor? The head of a school? Who’s next?”
Before the rally, Mrs. Davis and her husband Joe met with another GOP presidential hopeful, Ted Cruz, who said in an online post that “it was an outrage that she was imprisoned for six days for living according to her Christian faith.”
Backers of Mrs. Davis, who was elected in November 2014 after 27 years as deputy clerk, argue that the Kentucky Constitution still defines marriage as between one man and one woman, meaning that she was technically following state law by refusing to issue same-sex licenses.
After she was jailed Thursday, five of her six deputies agreed to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible applicants, including same-sex couples.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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