Kentucky clerk: Issue same-sex marriage licenses without my name

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis indicated Monday she would not interfere with her deputies issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples but that she did not want her name on them.

“If any of them feels that they must issue an unauthorized license to avoid being thrown in jail, I understand their tough choice and I will take no action against them,” Davis said in a statement read outside the courthouse.

“However, any unauthorized license that they issue will not have my name, my title or my authority on it,” Davis added. “Instead, the license will state that they are issued pursuant to a federal court order.”

The Rowan County Clerk has been at the center of national attention for several weeks after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite the Supreme Court’s refusal to block a ruling that she do so.

“I am no hero, I’m just a person who has been transformed by the grace of God,” Davis said Monday, choking back tears and saying she wanted to serve without violating her conscience.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning last Tuesday ordered Davis released from custody and a contempt order against her lifted, stipulating she “not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.”

Davis indicated Monday that she hasn’t received an accommodation for not issuing the licenses based on religious objections, filing an appeal on Friday asking for another delay in issuing licenses.

“They don’t have my authority to issue any licenses whatsoever,” she said Monday of her clerks.