Gay couples walked out of a Kentucky courthouse with marriage licenses Friday, a day after the county's defiant clerk was taken to jail for refusing to license same-sex marriages, citing "God's authority."
William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a couple for nearly a decade, were the first to receive a marriage license in Rowan County, ending a months-long standoff.
Unlike the vast majority of officials across the U.S., County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in June.
The Apostolic Christian had turned away couples again and again, in defiance of a series of federal court orders.
But on Friday morning, Davis sat in a county jail, ordered there by a federal judge who found her in contempt for refusing to follow his order that she issue marriage licenses 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.
Speaking to reporters before the licenses were issued Friday, Davis' husband, Joe Davis, said his wife was in good spirits after her first night in jail.
Holding a sign that says "Welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah," Joe Davis said his wife would not resign from her position and would stay in jail for as long as it takes.
After sending Davis to jail, Bunning threatened each of her six employees with the same fate if they followed her lead and 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.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.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11508558
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