Anti-gay clerk Kim Davis to be released from jail
Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is set to be released from jail – after she was sent to prison for contempt of court for blocking same-sex marriages.
Davis, the clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, made international news when she defied a string of court orders by refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, despite issuing marriage licenses being a large part of her job.
The clerk – whose lawyer Mat Staver was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League for comparing her to Jews sent to the gas chamber – has spent a number of days in jail following the incident, after she refused to let her deputies marry gays.
However, Davis, who has been ‘honoured’ with visits from anti-LGBT Republicans Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz while behind bars at the Carter County Detention Center, will be finally released today.
US District Judge David L Branning issued an order today granting her a conditional release – as long as she does not “interfere” in the process by blocking same-sex marriage licenses.
The judge ruled: “Defendant Davis shall be released from the custody of the US Marshal forthwith.
“Defendant Davis shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.
“If Defendant Davis should interfere in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a violation of this Order and appropriate sanctions will be considered.”
The ruling continues by imposing conditions on the deputies who have begun to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the time Davis was jailed.
It further states: “CJA counsel for the five deputy clerks who indicated they would comply with the Court’s Order shall file a Status Report every fourteen days from the date of entry of this Order.
“Within those reports Counsel shall report on their clients’ respective compliance with the Court’s August 12 2015 Order enjoining the Rowan County Clerk from enforcing her “no marriage licenses” policy, as well as its Order of September 3 2015 requiring them to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples in compliance with the Court’s prior Order.”
