Kim Davis says marriage licences issued to gay couples by her deputies are invalid
Defiant Kentucky clerk Kim Davis admitted that the marriage licences issued to same-sex couples by her deputies in Rowan County are invalid since they did not have her signature, pointing out that nobody can force her to make such authorisation even if the court sends her to jail again.
"I can't put my name on a licence that doesn't represent what God ordained what marriage to be," Davis told ABC News in an interview taped Monday.
Davis said those licences issued by her staff are "not valid in God's eyes, for one," according to Reuters.
"I have given no authority to write a marriage licence. They did not have my permission, they did not have my authorisation," she said.
Davis, 50, was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to obey a court order that directed her to issue marriage licences to all couples, including those belonging to the same sex. She said to do so would contradict her religious beliefs which she said she will never allow to happen.
She was released from jail on the condition that she would not interfere with the issuance of marriage licences by her deputies.
Lawyers for couples suing Davis accused her of making alterations to the marriage licence since she returned to work on Sept. 14.
Davis did not directly admit this but said she is prepared to go to jail again.
On Sept. 21, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky filed a motion with a Kentucky US District Court to enforce the Sept. 3 and 8 court orders and compel the Rowan County deputy clerks to issue marriage licences using the same form that were issued before Sept. 8.
The ACLU Kentucky also asked the court to order the deputy clerks to ignore any instruction or order from Davis about the marriage licences and re-issue any marriage licences that were given out since Sept. 14.
In the interview, Davis said she should keep her post as "I'm good at my job."
"My constituents elected me, but the main authority that rules my life is the Lord," said Davis.
Davis rejected criticisms that she is a hypocrite and homophobe as she has been married four times and had children out of wedlock.
"I'm forgiven. Washed clean," she said.
The ACLU Kentucky asked the court that "should Davis again violate this Court's order, she will have unfailingly demonstrated that the usual remedies for securing compliance are simply inadequate and that a receivership is an appropriate remedy pending her obedience, which may be induced via coercive civil monetary fines as appropriate and necessary."