Jail for snub of gay law

LEXINGTON: A defiant US marriage registrar has been jailed after insisting her “conscience will not allow” her to follow a federal judge’s orders to issue marriage licences to gay couples.

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis was jailed for contempt of court. But rather than be fined, jailed or sacked, five of her deputies told the judge they would issue the licences.

“God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” Davis told US District Court Judge David Bunning in Kentucky.

“You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”

The judge said fines alone would not change her mind.

He had tried to keep Davis out of jail, saying she could be freed if her staff agreed to comply with the law and she didn’t interfere. But Davis rejected the offer, choosing jail instead.

Gay and lesbian couples vowed to return to the Rowan County clerk’s office to see if the deputy clerks keep their promises.

“We’re going to the courthouse tomorrow to get our marriage licence and we’re very excited about that,” said April Miller, who has been engaged to Karen Roberts for 11 years.

In a landmark June ruling, the US Supreme Court found gay marriage bans were unconstitutional, and the vast majority of government officials across the country have since adhered to that ruling.

But Davis’ lawyer, Roger Gannam, compared her willingness to accept prison to what Martin Luther King Jr did to advance civil rights.

Before she was led away, Davis said the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling conflicted with the vows she made when she became a born-again Christian.