Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis indicated Monday that she will not interfere with any deputy clerk who issues marriage licenses, but said she will not personally issue or authorize any of the forms.
“If any of them feels that they must issue an unauthorized license to avoid being thrown in jail, I understand their tough choice and I will take no action against them,” Davis said in a statement outside the courthouse.
“However, any unauthorized license they issue will not have my name, my title or my authority on it,” she said. “Instead, the license will state that they are issued pursuant to a federal court order.”
Davis said she has “great doubts” that licenses issued under these conditions are even valid.
Davis said she faced a choice between her conscience and freedom, and prayed hard about her decision. She called it a remedy to reconcile her conscience with the federal injunction ordering her to provide the forms.
“I don’t want to have this conflict. I don’t want to be in the spotlight. And I certainly don’t want to be a whipping post,” she said. “I am no hero. I’m just a person who has been transformed by the grace of God.”
Davis reiterated her plea for Gov. Steve Beshear and legislators to rewrite state marriage laws to accommodate her religious objections. She argued that millions of others in the public and private sector face similar conflicts.
“Are we not big enough, a loving enough and a tolerant enough state to find a way to accommodate my deeply-held religious convictions,” she asked.
Davis took several days off to spend with family following her high-profile release from the Carter County Detention Center last week. She has remained unclear about her intentions when she returns to face her office staff, releasing only a statement saying that “I love God, love people, and love my work.”
“I hope we will continue to respect these values, and that America remains a place where all three can live in harmony,” she said.
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