Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, was found in contempt of court and ordered to jail by a federal judge in Kentucky.
“The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” judge David L. Bunning said, The New York Times reported. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”
Davis, who has said that giving gay couples the documentation necessary to marry would go against her Apostolic Christian beliefs, has been refusing to grant licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of a US Supreme Court ruling in June that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states. She also defied a Aug. 31 ruling from the high court that denied her a stay, which effectively declared that she had no grounds to continue her fight. Lawyers for couples who sued Davis for denying their licenses asked the judge to hold her in contempt.
Davis could not be fired because she is an elected official, but she can be jailed. According to NBC, US marshals took Davis into custody as she said, in tears, that she would not comply with the order.
She will be released when she agrees to issue marriage licenses to everyone who is legally qualified to one.