Kentucky woman ordered to pay more than $350,000 for defending traditional marriage

A federal judge last week ordered former Rowan County clerk Kim Davis to pay about $260,000 in fines and legal expenses to attorneys representing two men she refused to marry in 2015. That’s in addition to $100,000 a jury awarded the couple last September, bringing the total Davis owes to more than $350,000. Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to several homosexual couples shortly after the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. The Christian legal nonprofit Liberty Counsel is representing Davis and said it plans to appeal the jury’s verdict.

Did she say why she refused the licenses? Davis cited her belief in biblical marriage as her reason for refusing to marry the couples. She said by signing her name to the marriage licenses she issued, she would be personally endorsing gay marriage. Davis argued that she should not be forced into violating her religious beliefs and should be protected by a religious accommodation. After the lawsuits, the state removed the issuing clerk’s name from the document.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties on the jury decision in September.