Kim Davis Supporters Rally In Kentucky To Oppose Same-Sex Marriage

Hundreds assembled in front of the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky, Saturday to lend support to Kim Davis, the municipal court clerk who was thrown in jail Thursday for refusing to issue same-sex marriage permits.

Davis' supporters held signs reading "no to sodomite perversion" and "Kim Davis for president," the Associated Press reported. Joe Davis, Kim's husband, assured the crowd, "She won't bow, I promise you."

Wisconsin pastor Matthew Trewhella told those assembled, "She said that she was doing this under God's authority," according to the AP. "She is 1,000 percent correct. She is echoing what western man has said for over 1,500 years now."

The demonstrators argued that Davis' constitutionally protected freedom of religion allowed her to refuse to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which the Supreme Court deemed legal in a landmark ruling in June. Davis, a born-again Christian, was one of the few county clerks around the country to cite her faith in rejecting the applications from gay couples. U.S. District Judge David Bunning, however, disagreed with her justification. He ruled Davis in contempt of court and ordered her to comply with the law or face jail time. Davis chose the latter.

"Bible-believing Christians, we don't check our conscience at the door when we leave home," Davis supporter Stephanie Hunley told NPR at the rally. "If you're a true believer in Jesus Christ that belief system will carry through 24/7."

Numerous legal experts have rejected the notion, also held by Davis and her supporters, that the Supreme Court's rulings are not automatically law. Similar arguments have been advanced by politicians and public servants throughout the nation who have refused to abide by the ruling on gay marriage the Supreme Court.

Davis' indefinite jailing has become a flashpoint to those opposed to same-sex marriage. Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee called Davis' ordeal a "criminalization of Christianity" and vowed to visit her in jail.

Although Davis' stand has so far relieved her of the responsibility of issuing same-sex marriage licenses, it hasn't stopped Rowan County from doing so. On Friday, locals James Yates and William Smith became the county's first legally married same-sex couple.