Kimberly Jean Davis is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a US federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
48 Facts About Kim Davis
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Kim Davis appealed to the US Supreme Court, but the application to appeal was denied.
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Kim Davis was released after five days in jail under the condition that she not interfere with the efforts of her deputy clerks, who had begun issuing marriage licenses to all couples in her absence.
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Kim Davis then modified the Kentucky marriage licenses used in her office so that they no longer mentioned her name.
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Kim Davis's actions drew strong and mixed reactions from prominent politicians, legal experts, and religious leaders.
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Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that Kim Davis's imprisonment was part of the "criminalization of Christianity", while Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin compared Kim Davis's refusal to obey the decision of the US Supreme Court to Alabama Governor George Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" in 1963.
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Kim Davis was born on September 17,1965, in Jackson, Kentucky.
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Kim Davis earned more than other chief deputies in the county, and some county employees and residents complained to the county's governing body, the Fiscal Court, that the clerk's staff's wages were too high, with total compensation for five employees being about $198,000.
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At a candidates' forum, Kim Davis stated she felt she was best qualified for the position because of her 26 years of experience in the clerk's office.
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Kim Davis narrowly won the Democratic primary election, defeating Elwood Caudill Jr.
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Kim Davis won the election, with Cox subsequently alleging that nepotism was to blame for his loss.
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Kim Davis took the oath of office as the county clerk of Rowan County on, 2015, beginning a four-year term slated to end on, 2019.
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Kim Davis contacted Beshear, asking for an executive order to protect clerks who have moral objections against personally issuing such marriage licenses, as Kentucky law requires county clerks to issue marriage licenses in their names.
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Kim Davis began turning away gay couples from her county office who were seeking marriage licenses.
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David Ermold and David Moore, a same-sex couple from Morehead, Kentucky and alumni of Morehead State University, released video footage on July 7,2015 of Kim Davis refusing to issue them a marriage license and requesting that they turn off their camera.
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Rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Kim Davis began denying marriage licenses to all couples.
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Six couples who were denied marriage licenses from Kim Davis sued her in her official capacity as county clerk.
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Kim Davis argued tearfully that issuing licenses under her name violated her beliefs, citing her religious rights under the First Amendment: "It wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment decision", she said.
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Liberty Counsel and Kim Davis filed an emergency application to appeal with the US Supreme Court.
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Kim Davis continued to defy Bunning's court order after the Supreme Court's refusal.
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Some in the media questioned whether Kim Davis, having been married four times and only recently converted, was acting hypocritically in the application of her beliefs.
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The ACLU asked the court to fine Kim Davis, but Bunning ordered her remanded in custody after the hearing.
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The judge said Kim Davis would remain there until she complied with the court's order to issue marriage licenses.
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Only her son, Nathan Kim Davis, told the judge he refused to comply with the court's order to start issuing marriage licenses; Bunning declined to hold him in contempt.
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Kim Davis's supporters, gathered at the Rowan County Courthouse since her first day in custody, said that her deputies were unlawfully issuing licenses and should resign or be fired.
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Kim Davis said that, while she would not interfere with any deputy clerk who issues marriage licenses, she would not personally issue or authorize any of the forms.
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Kim Davis created several altered versions of the Kentucky marriage license form and instructed her deputy clerks to use them, which had her name and reference to the clerk's office removed.
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Kim Davis gained international attention after her refusal to issue marriage licenses and the ensuing controversy her actions caused.
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Many legal experts asserted that Kim Davis had no standing under the law to refuse to issue the licenses.
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Reactions against Kim Davis came from the White House, from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and from candidates in the race for the 2016 presidential election.
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Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, said that the Kim Davis affair was part of a "criminalization of Christianity" and organized a rally for Davis outside the jail where she had been held.
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Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican presidential candidate, said that Kim Davis was a victim of "judicial tyranny" and attended the same rally.
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Matt Bevin, the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor in the 2015 election, said a simple solution to Kim Davis's plight is for the government to stop providing marriage contracts.
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For Kim Davis to have been removed from the office of county clerk, impeachment proceedings would have had to have been initiated by the Kentucky House of Representatives and charges for impeachment brought to the Kentucky Senate.
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Liberty Counsel, which responded to the request on Kim Davis's behalf, refused to comply, arguing that the documents were preliminary and private records are not subject to the Act.
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One of the plaintiff couples who were denied marriage licenses from Kim Davis contacted Bunning, requesting they be allowed to recoup $230,000 in legal fees.
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The ACLU itself sued Kim Davis to recover $233,000 in legal fees, but the motion was denied; the organization was not a "prevailing party" in the legal action.
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In July 2017, Kim Davis was again sued for failing to issue a marriage license.
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Kim Davis announced that she would run for reelection in 2018 as a Republican.
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Kim Davis did not face any challengers in the Republican primary.
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Kim Davis lost her reelection campaign on November 6,2018, when she was defeated by Caudill in the general election by a little over 8 percentage points.
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Kim Davis has two daughters from her first marriage and twins, a son and another daughter, who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband.
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Joe Kim Davis has stated his support for her stance against same-sex marriage.
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Shortly after the same-sex marriage license controversy, Kim Davis said she and her husband switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
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Kim Davis says she experienced a religious awakening in 2011, following her mother-in-law's dying wish that she attend church.
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Since then Kim Davis has identified herself as a Christian, belonging to the Apostolic Pentecostal movement, which favors what they describe as a literal interpretation of the Bible.
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Kim Davis held a weekly Bible study for female inmates at the local jail.
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Kim Davis was the subject of numerous satirical works following the burst of media attention in 2015.