MOREHEAD, 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):
8:15 a.m.
A gay couple walked out of a Kentucky clerk’s office with a marriage license, hours after the county’s defiant clerk was hauled to jail for refusing to license same-sex marriages.
William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a couple for nearly a decade, were the first to receive a marriage license Friday morning in Rowan County, ending a months-long standoff.
Clerk Kim Davis has cited “God’s authority” and refused to issue marriage licenses since the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage in June. She defied a series of court orders.
Deputy clerk Brian Mason issued the license Friday morning, congratulating the couple and shaking their hands as he smiled. The couple embraced and cried.
8:10 a.m.
A couple has arrived at a county clerk’s office in Kentucky to obtain a marriage license.
James Yates and William Smith Jr. arrived Friday morning in Rowan County holding hands. They then approached deputy clerk Brian Mason to fill out an application.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis remains jailed after defying several court orders and refusing to issue marriage licenses, citing her opposition to gay marriage.
Five of Davis’ deputy clerks said they would obey U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s ruling and issue marriage licenses Friday morning. Bunning says Davis could remain in jail for at least a week as he gives her deputies time to comply with his order.
8:05 a.m.
A county clerk’s office in Kentucky has opened as its clerk remains jailed, though no couples have arrived yet to obtain a marriage license.
A throng of reporters was inside the Rowan County clerk’s office Friday morning. But when a sheriff’s deputy inside asked if anyone was there to get a license, no one answered. A line had been designated especially for marriage licenses.
Supporters held signs saying “no shenanigans,” a reference to a judge’s warning a day earlier to a deputy clerk, Nathan Davis, the son of jailed clerk Kim Davis.
Five of Davis’ deputy clerks said they would obey U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s ruling and issue marriage licenses Friday morning. Bunning says Davis could remain in jail for at least a week as he gives her deputies time to comply with his order.
7:45 a.m.
The husband of a Kentucky court clerk jailed for refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay couples says she won’t resign and will stay in jail for as long as it takes.
Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Joe Davis, the husband of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, said she’s in good spirits after spending the night in jail.
A federal district court judge jailed Kim Davis on Thursday for refusing to obey his order that she issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Davis, an Apostolic Christian, believes gay marriage is a sin.
But five of the six deputy clerks who work for Davis said they will issue the marriage licenses Friday. Joe Davis said he took the deputies out to dinner Thursday night and told them he was proud of them. He said they are only issuing the licenses because the judge is forcing them.
4:25 a.m.
Same-sex couples will return to the Rowan County Courthouse in Kentucky on Friday for the fifth time since June to ask for a marriage license.
Only this time, Kim Davis won’t be there to stop them. The county clerk will be in a Carter County jail cell for refusing to obey a judge’s order that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Davis said her Christian beliefs prevent her from issuing the licenses because she believes gay marriage is a sin.
Five of Davis’ deputy clerks said they would obey U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s ruling and issue marriage licenses Friday morning. Bunning says Davis could remain in jail for at least a week as he gives her deputies time to comply with his order.
