The county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to approve marriage licenses for same-sex couples could only watch on Monday as a same-sex couple got its license under the clerk’s new diminished role in the process.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis returned to work after spending five days in jail, and said she won’t interfere at all with marriage license applications. Her deputy will issue them, but Davis made clear that she still doesn’t approve.
Davis was denied an accommodation for her religious beliefs by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and the state’s legislature. As a result, Davis said she has been “forced to fashion a remedy,” meaning her name will not appear on the marriage documents. Instead, the documents will state that the license is being issued “pursuant to a federal order.”
“Effectively immediately, and until an accommodation is provided by those with the authority to provide it, any marriage license issued by my office will not be issued or authorized by me,” said Davis in Morehead, Ky., Monday morning.
“I want the whole world to know, make no mistake about it, that if my deputy clerks — who do not have my authorization or the authority — they don’t have the authority to issue license whatsoever,” she added.
At 11:20 a.m local time, a lesbian couple received a marriage license in Rowan County, the first since Davis returned to work. Her Deputy Clerk, Brian Mason, issued the license.
In her absence, her deputies have issued at least seven licenses to same-sex couples.
(h/t The Associated Press, Politico)
