MOREHEAD, Ky. – An attorney for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis says she has a “clean conscience” as she sits in jail for contempt because she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said Friday that the licenses that were handed out Friday are void and “not worth paper that they are written on.” At least three gay couples received licenses in Rowan County from her deputies on Friday.
Staver says Davis will appeal the contempt order. He says he met with Davis in jail and she is in very good spirits. He says he doesn’t know how long she will be jailed, but she has no intention of resigning and she will not violate her conscience.
A gay couple walked out of the 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.
READ MORE: Judge jails Kentucky clerk who refused to give marriage license to same-sex couples
U.S. District Judge David Bunning offered to release Davis if she promised not to interfere with her employees issuing licenses, but she refused. She told the judge her mother-in-law pleaded with her to go to church from her deathbed four years ago. She did, converting to Christianity and the belief that gay marriage is a sin.
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After sending Davis to jail, Bunning threatened each of her six employees with the same fate if they refused to comply with his order. Five of the six deputy clerks told Bunning they would issue the licenses. The sixth clerk, Kim Davis’ son, was the holdout.
At one point, Bunning looked at Davis’ son Nathan and warned him not to interfere with his fellow employees on Friday. The judge said he did not want “any shenanigans,” like the staff closing the office for computer upgrades as they did briefly last week.
“That would show a level of disrespect for the court’s order,” Bunning said. He added: “I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail.”
WATCH: Same sex marriage demonstrations ongoing in Kentucky on Thursday
Nathan Davis sat stoically as the judge questioned the clerks, some of whom were reluctant.
“I don’t really want to, but I will comply with the law,” deputy clerk Melissa Thompson said, weeping while she stood before the packed courtroom. “I’m a preacher’s daughter and this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
“I don’t hate anybody,” she added. “None of us do.”
Bunning indicated Kim Davis would remain in jail at least a week, saying he would revisit his decision after the deputy clerks have had time to comply with his order.
READ MORE: Same-sex couple has heated confrontation with clerk who refuses them a marriage license
Davis said she hopes the Legislature will change Kentucky laws to find some way for her to keep her job while following her conscience. But Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear again refused to call a special session of the legislature on Thursday. State lawmakers will not meet until January.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, wept during her testimony in federal court Thursday.
“God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” Davis told the judge before she was taken away by a U.S. marshal. “You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”
Davis stood and thanked Bunning after he ordered her to jail, pausing briefly to search the crowded courtroom for familiar faces before she was led away.
April Miller and Karen Roberts were previously denied a marriage licence by Davis. Miller said she was stunned with the judge’s order. She said she and Roberts will get a license, “show that piece of paper off for a minute or two,” then go home and try to resume a quiet life together, without court appearances and reporters calling at all hours.
“We look forward to (Friday) as a couple,” she said. “It will be a very important day in our lives.”
WATCH: Kentucky clerk goes to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licences
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Associated Press writer Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.
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