Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, a
Republican, has described a county clerk who refused to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples as an inspiration to “the
children of America.”
Kim Davis' refusal to issue marriage
licenses to same-sex couples landed her five days in jail for
contempt of court. The ordeal turned Davis into a Christian
celebrity.
Last month, Davis released a memoir,
Under God's Authority: The Kim Davis Story.
Davis is credited with writing the book
with John Aman and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, the Christian
conservative group that represented Davis in court. Former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee wrote the book's foreword.
In a video narrated by Staver promoting
the book, Bevin
praises Davis for “her boldness [and] her conviction” in “knowing
that she was right.”
“Against all the scorn, all the
enmity, all the vitriol, all the nastiness, she stood firm,” Bevin
said. “I think Kim Davis is without question an inspiration,
not only to leaders like myself – people in the public arena and
those outside the public arena – but to my children, the children
of America. People, even if they disagree with her, have got to
respect the fact that here is a woman who was willing to put it all
on the line out of conviction for what she believed and knew to be
her right as an American citizen. And her faith and her conviction in
the fact that that faith was protected by the First Amendment in our
Constitution – in our Bill of Rights, specifically – is something
that she was willing to put front and center.”
“And if that’s not admirable, if
that’s not something we would want all Americans to emulate, I
don’t know what is,” he added.