FRANKFORT, Ky. — A county clerk in Kentucky is continuing to defy a court order that she issue marriage licenses to homosexuals and their partners despite her Christian convictions not to be a partaker in other’s sins.

“Currently everything remains the same,” Deputy Clerk Nathan Davis told Reuters, as the office continued to turn away those who came for a license on Thursday—a day after a federal appeals court denied a stay of the lower court order.

As previously reported, Davis’ mother, Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, has been the subject of a federal suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of two homosexuals and their partners, and well as two opposite-sex couples, after she declined to issue any marriage licenses of any kind following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.

But Davis also sued Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, after he declared in a letter that all county clerks must issue licenses to homosexuals despite their identity as a Christian.

“Neither your oath nor the Supreme Court dictates what you must believe. But as elected officials, they do prescribe how we must act,” he wrote.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled in the ACLU case, making similar statements as Beshear—that Davis may have the free exercise of religion in her private life, but cannot live out her convictions while serving as clerk.

While on the job, Bunning limited Davis’ Christianity to head knowledge about homosexuality as opposed to a whole-life identity that excludes her from being a facilitator of other men’s sins. (1 Timothy 5:22)

“Davis remains free to practice her Apostolic Christian beliefs,” he wrote. “She may continue to attend church twice a week, participate in Bible study and minister to female inmates at the Rowan County jail. She is even free to believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, as many Americans do. However, her religious convictions cannot excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform as Rowan County clerk.”

Attorneys for Davis immediately filed an appeal and a request for a stay and counseled her not to issue any licenses in the interim.

But on Wednesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Bunning and said that Davis must issue licenses due to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, denying the desired stay.

“In light of the binding holding of Obergefell, it cannot be defensibly argued that the holder of the Rowan County Clerk’s office, apart from who personally occupies that office, may decline to act in conformity with the United States Constitution as interpreted by a dispositive holding of the United States Supreme Court,” wrote the three-judge panel, comprised of Damon Keith, John Rogers and Bernice Donald.

Attorneys for Davis state that she is not issuing licenses pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They also note that her stay does not expire until August 31.

According to reports, while it is too soon to say what might occur if Davis continues to defy the order and all exhaustible appeals are unsuccessful, it is possible that she could be found in contempt of court and face a fine or jail time.

“Certainly none of those are appealing to my client,” Liberty Counsel Founder Matt Staver told the Associated Press. “No one wants to be fined or go to jail and she’s always been a law-abiding citizen. She’s just caught in a very difficult situation.”

Become a Christian News Network Supporter...

Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God's word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!