Kentucky clerk Kim Davis worked for the option to refuse all couples marriage licenses ahead of the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage this summer so she wouldn’t be accused of discrimination.
Davis wrote to Kentucky legislators five months before the ruling asking them to support a bill that would allow county clerks to exempt themselves from issuing marriage licenses altogether, “as not to discriminate anyone.” The letter was obtained by Vice in a public records request.
Kentucky clerks could already be exempted from issuing fishing and hunting licenses, Davis said in the letter. She wanted “the option, as a person who has deep moral convictions, to choose not to discriminate any party.” (RELATED: Kim Davis: You’re Not Being Tolerant Enough)
Davis sent the letter two weeks after she took office, and a Republican state senator who agreed with her position told her to reach out to a county clerk for guidance. But it’s unclear how that turned out and the exemption idea was never picked up by the legislature.
Davis was jailed briefly in September for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
After her release, she met briefly with Pope Francis during his visit to Washington, D.C., when she says he told her “thank you for your courage,” and gave her a rosary. “I hugged him, and he hugged me,” she said.
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