NEWS

Kim Davis: God's people 'have rallied'

Mike Wynn, and Tom Loftus
Louisville

GRAYSON, Ky.  — Surrounded by thousands of cheering supporters, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis emerged from a rural jail Tuesday, proclaiming praise for God and indicating that her fight against marriage licenses was worth the six days behind bars.

“I just want to give God the glory,” she said, as Christian groups from around the region roared in support of her release at the Carter County Detention Center. “His people have rallied, and you are a strong people.”

Davis, who took the stage as "Eye of the Tiger" played over a speaker system, urged the crowd to keep pressing because “He is here,” but she declined all comment at an earlier press conference. When a reporter asked if her time in jail was worth it, Davis only nodded her head yes for a moment.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis to be released from the jail earlier Tuesday afternoon provided that she doesn't interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis, said she plans to return to work this week and will not resign or authorize any marriage licenses under her name. He never directly addressed whether Davis would interfere with a deputy clerk who began providing the forms to couples last week in her absence.

“She cannot allow her name to be associated with something that conflicts with God’s definition of marriage,” Staver said.

Attorneys for the couples suing Davis filed a status update Tuesday, reporting that the forms have been altered to remove Davis' name. But Staver says they are still granted under a clerk's authority regardless of the wording on the license.

At the Rowan County Clerk’s office in Morehead, deputy clerk Brian Mason said two couples picked up marriage forms Tuesday, including a same-sex couple from California. He said he did not know if Kim Davis would return to the office on Wednesday. As for whether she might again forbid licenses on her return, Mason said, “I can’t comment on that. I don’t know what happens tomorrow.”

Kim Davis’ son Nathan Davis also declined to comment as he locked the doors of the clerk’s office at closing time.

David Moore, who was among those originally denied a license in Rowan, said he was surprised by the ruling that let Davis go even though he was not happy to see her jailed. He said he only wanted Davis to do her job and treat people equally.

"To see her paraded out as some kind of martyr, I don't like the way that looks," Moore said. "I don't believe she is a martyr. She is not in jail because she is a Christian. She's in jail because of contempt of court."

Tuesday's rally outside the jail drew thousands to the small Eastern Kentucky town of Grayson, where leaders from religious and conservative groups urged Christians to be prepared to stand up for religious convictions, even against the courts and government officials. Speakers also took shots at Gov. Steve Beshear, who has declined to call a special session on the matter.

Headlining the event, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Davis’ supporters do not want to see America become the “smoldering remains of a great republic,” and that America’s creation occurred only through the providence of God.

“The only explanation is that God intervened,” he said. “And I believe this week … God showed up, and he showed up in the form of an elected Democrat named Kim Davis.”

Kim Davis released from jail

He won cheers when arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court overstepped the separation of powers in an act of judicial tyranny and that politicians are hiding behind the courts. And even though Davis has been released, he volunteered to go to jail in her place.

“Every one of us will have to decide whether or not we want to keep this great republic or whether we are willing to sacrifice it and surrender it to tyranny,” he said. “I think we gathered here today to say we will not surrender.”

Many of the speakers took a bellicose tone, including Casey County Clerk Casey Davis, who is not related to Kim but has adopted a similar stance on marriage licenses. He accused Gov. Steve Beshear of being a “warrior against Christianity.”

Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council said Davis wants to live out her religious beliefs — just as the pilgrims who came to America — and he compared her struggle to those of Martin Luther King Jr. "The time for being spectators as Christians is over," he said.

Throughout the day, the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd in Grayson waved flags, crosses and signs and sang hymns. Others set up chairs along U.S. 60 to protest the jailing.

Jim Gilles of Evansville, Ind., who hoisted a sign outside the jail that read "AIDS: Judgement or cure?" said he hopes Davis will re-establish her policy once she gets back to her office.

"We do know that AIDS is at least a judgment from God," he said. "It could be a cure for the homosexual problem."

James Cowden, from Elizabethtown, wore a shirt that said, "Christian values matter" and agreed that Davis should continue to deny licenses. He said he hopes the sheer size of Tuesday's rally will carry that message worldwide.

Only a handful of people were demonstrating in support of the couples.

One of them, Shandon Prater, from Grayson, argued that the issue isn't about religion, but rather Davis doing her job. He said she was making a mockery of the system.

Dennis Midkiff, director of Carter County Ambulance, said the crowd topped 5,000 people. He said first responders treated 392 patients on the scene, mostly due to heat exhaustion. Two others were sent to the hospital.

Around half a dozen couples — both gay and straight — have sued Davis since she began refusing licenses in June. An Apostolic Christian, Davis cites religious objections to same-sex marriage even though the Supreme Court found that marriage is a fundamental right under the Constitution.

The ACLU, which is representing four of the couples, had only requested that U.S. District Judge David Bunning pressure Davis with fines, and some of the plaintiffs said last week that they only wanted access to the licenses — not to have Davis in jail.

However, Bunning reasoned that society depends on people following court orders, and he said Davis' supporters would likely step in to pay any fines.

Reporter Mike Wynn can be reached at (502) 875-5136 or mwynn@courier-journal.com