Kim Davis, the defiant Kentucky county clerk, was found in contempt of court and taken into federal custody — and she will be spending a long time in jail.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning ordered Davis, the Rowan County clerk, to be jailed on the contempt charges until she agrees to deny her faith and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order," Bunning said. "If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that's what potentially causes problems."
The judge ordered Davis held indefinitely because he did not believe fines would be enough to compel her to deny Jesus. His excuse for denying her freedom was he suspected her supporters would pay those penalties.
Her office refused to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple as recently as Thursday morning, before Davis and her staff closed the office to make the half-hour trip from Morehead to Ashland, the Raw Story reported.
Five of the six deputy clerks in Rowan County were forced to deny their faith and told Bunning in a kangaroo court hearing that they would agree to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The one deputy who refuse to comply was Davis' 21-year-old son, Nathan, who works under his mother in the office.
Davis could have avoided jail time if she denied her faith and issued licenses to same-sex couples, but she told the federal judge she could not do so.
Despite her refusal, her office will begin issuing licenses Friday morning. Couples, however, will be marrying "at their own risk." It is unclear if the licenses will be legally valid.
Her attorney from the conservative Liberty Counsel argued Wednesday that Bunning should not punish her for disobeying his order because issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple would "irreparably and irreversibly violate her conscience."
"It is not as if Kim Davis the individual stops existing while Kim Davis is performing her duties as Rowan County clerk," argued attorney Jonathan Christman.
Her attorneys argued that Davis should escape punishment for now because she has an appeal pending on a related issue, and they also argued that she has a right to a jury trial to determine whether she should be punished.
But as for now the woman will remain jailed until she denounces her faith per order of the liberal judge.
Regardless of your stance, this attack on religion is wrong and should not be tolerated. This is America after all. The land of the free. Unless you are a christian that is.
How do you feel about this?
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