LOUISVILLE — Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis remained defiant in a televised interview with ABC News on Tuesday, saying that God is the highest authority in her life and that she is prepared to return to jail over her refusal to authorize marriage licenses for same-sex couples.
Davis has been at the center of the dispute about gay marriage and religious liberty.
"I have never once spouted a word of hate. I have not been hateful. I've had people yellin' and screamin' and cussin' me," Davis told ABC News correspondent Paula Farisin a segment that aired on Good Morning America. "I'm just a normal person that has been touched by the grace of God and his mercy. You know I haven't always been a good person, Paula. When I didn't live for God, I didn't live for him. And I was real good at livin' for the devil."
Davis' first sit-down interview since her release from jail aired as the American Civil Liberties Union is raising concerns over alterations that Davis has made to marriage licenses. A deputy clerk has issued about a dozen of the forms, but only after Davis modified the wording to remove all mention of her name and office. She says the paperwork doesn't have her authority and isn't valid.
The ACLU, which is suing Davis on behalf of four couples, filed a motion Monday asking U.S. District Judge David Bunning to prevent her from interfering. They argue that the alterations create a two-tier system that treats LGBT couples as second-class citizens. They want Bunning to enforce a return to the uniform licenses used across the state.
That could set the stage for another showdown in court and possibly more jail time for Davis, even though the ACLU is only suggesting fines or an order placing the clerk's office in a receivership for the purpose of issuing licenses.
Davis was jailed for six days earlier this month on a contempt of court charge issued by Bunning. When she was released, Bunning warned her not to interfere with deputy clerks who had agreed in court to provide the forms over her objections. When she returned to work Sept. 14, she didn't interfere with the issuance of a marriage license to a lesbian couple.
In Tuesday's interview, Faris noted Davis' previous divorces and asked her whether she is a hypocrite. Davis, who became an Apostolic Christian four years ago, denied the charge, saying "I'm forgiven, washed clean." Davis said she has gay and lesbian friends with whom she maintains mutual respect despite her policy on licenses.
Davis said she has been called Hitler and homophobic since she began turning away all couples after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that marriage is a fundamental right. She said the most hurtful criticisms are "that my God does not love me, or that my God is not happy with me. That I am a hypocrite of a Christian."
Faris noted how one gay man said he finally felt human after obtaining a license in Rowan County, Ky., but Davis responded that dignity is something that people find in themselves, not the constitution.
"I feel really sad that someone can be so unhappy with themselves as a person that they did not feel dignified as a human being until they got a piece of paper," Davis said. "There is just so much more to life than that."
