The Latest: Clerk won't resign over marriage license flap

Morehead, Ky. (AP) — The latest on a Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against her (all times local):

12:35 p.m.

The Kentucky clerk who is refusing to issue marriage licenses despite a Supreme Court ruling against her says she won't resign or violate her religious beliefs about same-sex couples.

In a statement Tuesday, clerk Kim Davis says that despite calls for her resignation, she has done her job in Rowan County well.

But she says that issuing marriage licenses to gay couples would "violate my conscience." She calls it "a Heaven or Hell decision."

Davis also it's is not "a gay or lesbian issue," but rather a "matter of religious liberty, which is protected under the First Amendment."

The county attorney says Davis and her deputy clerks have been called to appear in federal court on Thursday morning.

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11:20 a.m.

An attorney says the Kentucky clerk who won't issue marriage licenses and all her deputy clerks have been called for a federal court hearing Thursday morning.

Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins says the federal court alerted him that a hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in Ashland.

Watkins says clerk Kim Davis is summonsed to attend, along with all the deputy clerks who work in her office.

Davis stopped issuing licenses in the days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. A federal judge ordered her to issue them, and an appeals court upheld that decision. Still, she turned away couples.

The Supreme Court declined to intervene on Monday, leaving Davis no legal grounds to refuse. But her office turned away several couples Tuesday morning. Davis invoked "God's authority" in doing so.

Attorneys for the two gay couples who originally sued in the case have asked U.S. District Judge David Bunning to hold Davis in contempt. They want Davis punished only with fees, not jail time.

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The Gayly – September 1, 2015 @ 11:55am.