Gay Couple Receives Marriage License as Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Remains Jailed
With anti-gay Clerk Kim Davis locked up for contempt of court, William Smith and James Yates were able to this morning to finally obtain a gay marriage license from the Rowan County, Kentucky, courthouse.
First couple applying for marriage license. #RowanCounty #KimDavis pic.twitter.com/8Eozhuu2iE
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) September 4, 2015
Done. pic.twitter.com/OwT17mzKXz
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) September 4, 2015
BREAKING: William Smith and James Yates just obtained a marriage license from the Rowan County Clerk's Office. pic.twitter.com/rBcxunFZxb
— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) September 4, 2015
The license issued to Smith and Yates, who have been a couple for more than ten years, ends a long battle for gay couples to marry in Rowan County, where Davis—citing God’s law—has denied permits since June’s Supreme Court ruling.
Five of Davis’s six deputies agreed to issue the licenses yesterday after their boss’s arrest; the lone holdout was Davis’s son. Meanwhile, Joe Davis, Kim’s husband, spoke to reporters this morning shortly before the license was issued.
"We don't hate these people... We just wanna have the same rights that they have," Joe Davis says about Gay couples. #KimDavis
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) September 4, 2015
Seems like a nice family. Kim faces up to another six days in jail to give her employees time to comply with Judge David Bunning’s orders.