Judge frees Kim Davis, Kentucky clerk jailed in gay marriage dispute
Tuesday, September 8, 2015 1:06 PM EDT
The clerk of Rowan County, Ky., who was jailed last week after she defied a court’s order that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has been ordered released.
The clerk, Kim Davis, has been held for contempt of court since Thursday, but on Tuesday, the judge who sent her to jail, David L. Bunning of Federal District Court, ruled that she should be freed from a county detention center in Grayson, Ky.
Although a Supreme Court decision in June legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States, Ms. Davis said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian kept her from sanctioning any such nuptials. Judge Bunning said last month that Ms. Davis had to issue the licenses, but she maintained her resistance and was sent to jail.
Ms. Davis’s argument and eventual incarceration have resonated deeply among Christian conservatives, many of whom fear an erosion of religious liberty, and transformed the clerk of a rural Kentucky county into an unyielding symbol of opposition to same-sex marriage.
Ms. Davis’s deputies began processing licenses after she was detained. In a signal of the possible courtroom battles to come, Ms. Davis’s lawyers have questioned whether those licenses are valid, but Rowan County officials have insisted they will be recognized.
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NYTimes.com
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