Court frees US Clerk who refused to sanction same-sex marriage

Kim Davis, the United States county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples on religious grounds, has been freed.

Davis, the Rowan County clerk, was initially held in contempt of court by a US federal judge on Thursday and then jailed, but she has now been freed with certain conditions.

The condition mandates that Davis “shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licences to all legally eligible couples.”

Davis’ deputies began to issue the licences after she was jailed.

According to a court order signed by David Bunning, the judge of the federal district court on Tuesday, Davis was released based on plaintiff’s status report of acquired same-sex marriage licence.

“On September 8, 2015, Plaintiffs filed a status report at the Court’s behest. According to the Report, Plaintiffs have obtained marriage licenses from the Rowan County clerk’s office,” the order, available to New York Times read in part.

“The court is therefore satisfied that the Rowan County clerk’s office is fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licences to all legally eligible couples, consistent with the US Supreme Court holding.

The acquired licences however do not carry the name of Kim Davis where it should be, but the judge said this did not alter the validity of the document.

“While the status report reflects that the plaintiffs’ marriage licences have been altered so that ‘Rowan County’ rather than ‘Kim Davis’ appears on the line reserved for the name of the county clerk, plaintiffs have not alleged that the alterations affect the validity of the licences. Nor do the alterations impact the court’s finding that the deputy clerks have complied with the court’s order.”

Earlier, Bunning had ruled that “her good faith belief is simply not a viable defence,” adding that the court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully-issued order.

“If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems. I myself have genuinely held religious beliefs, but I took an oath. Mrs. Davis took an oath. Oaths mean things.”

Her release came just few hours to a rally for her release to be attended by GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz in front of the Carter County Detention Centre.