Kentucky clerk Kim Davis found in contempt of court, ordered to jail

A federal judge has ordered Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex-couples, despite a ruling by the Supreme Court that legalized gay marriage.

Davis was taken into custody Thursday afteoon, NBC News reported.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the licenses. Davis said "thank you" before she was led out of the courtroom by a U.S. marshal. She was not in handcuffs, The Associated Press reported.

A federal judge in Kentucky ordered a defiant Rowan County clerk to jail this afteoon after she repeatedly refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. US District Judge David Bunning told Kim Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to resume issuing the licenses. Davis said 'thank you' before she was led out of the courtroom by a US marshal. She was not in handcuffs.

Davis has refused to issue marriages licenses for two months since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. She argues that her Christian faith should exempt her from signing the licenses.

Couples who originally sued in the Supreme Court case had asked the judge to punish Davis with fines instead of jail. 

Davis cites her Christian beliefs as an Apostolic Christian and "God's authority" for the refusals. She claims that issuing marriage licenses to gay couples is a matter of "Heaven or Hell," The Washington Post reported.

Her attoeys said she could not be penalized for not obeying the court because "it irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience" by issuing the paperwork with her name and approval to same-sex couples. 

Her attoeys earlier had claimed that a contempt ruling would violate her right to due process, The Washington Post reported.