A Kentucky clerk who was imprisoned after refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples has been released from jail.
Kim Davis was originally held in contempt of court after defying repeated orders by US district court judge, David Bunning, to issue the licences. She was jailed for five days after her continued refusal.
Davis, who chose to be imprisoned indefinitely, said she refused the licences on the basis that same-sex marriage goes against her Christian convictions.
Her actions went against the recent Supreme Court decision that legalised same-sex marriage in all 50 US states.
In her absence, five of Davis’s deputies agreed to issue licences to the group of clients who originally sued the clerk.
Being satisfied that her deputies had fulfilled their obligations, Bunning ordered Davis’s release.
Bunning’s new order for Davis says that she cannot interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licences to all eligible same-sex couples. Davis will be jailed again if she doesn’t follow this order.
Davis has claimed her time in jail was worth it, and she is returning to work this week. Her lawyers have not said whether she will agree to issue licences to same-sex couples, only that she will continue to be “loyal to her job and her people”, but “she’ll also be loyal to God and she’s not going to violate her conscience”.
Walking out of the detention centre last Tuesday, Davis was greeted with a rally of supporters, who blasted Survivor’s song “The Eye of the Tiger”.
Davis told her supporters that her actions were “to give God the glory … his people have rallied, and you are a strong people”.
Also present for her release and rally was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a potential presidential candidate and firm Davis supporter.
Huckabee claimed that he would be willing to go to jail in place of Davis because he is “tired of watching people be just harassed because they believe something of their faith”.
Huckabee has frequently opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage.