Gay rights advocates: Jailed Kentucky clerk is no martyr

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) - As a defiant Kentucky clerk sat in jail Friday, choosing indefinite imprisonment over licensing gay marriages, her lawyers approached the microphones outside and compared her to Dr. Martin Luther King.

Around the country, other supporters reached for Biblical heroes, comparing her to Silas and Daniel, imprisoned for their faith and rescued by God.

It's precisely the narrative gay rights advocates had hoped to avoid. But as Davis' mug shot rocketed around the Internet, it became clear the gay rights movement must battle this idea that Christianity is under siege, said Kenneth Upton, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, a law firm specializing in LGBT issues.

"This is what the other side wants," Upton said, pointing to the image of Davis in handcuffs. "This is a Biblical story, to go to jail for your faith. We don't want to make her a martyr to the people who are like her, who want to paint themselves as victims."

Since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in June, Davis and a handful of other clerks and judges, advised by the Christian law firm Liberty Counsel, have refused to comply. They stopped issuing marriage licenses to any couple, gay or straight. Davis was merely the first to be challenged in court.

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing couples she turned away, asked she be fined rather than imprisoned, in part to avoid "a false persecution story," said Dan Canon, one of the attorneys. But U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning ordered her to jail.

Alabama Probate Judge Nick Williams said he called Davis the night before she was jailed, telling her he admires her resolve, and he too would rather go to prison than resign or relent. His resolve has yet to be tested: no same-sex couples have sought a license from his office in rural Washington County, home to about 17,000 people.

In Irion County, Texas, population 1,500, clerk Molly Criner also declared through the Liberty Counsel that she would issue no licenses. She said on Friday no same-sex couples have asked for one. She refused to say whether she would issue them, or opt to go to jail instead.

How long Davis might remain behind bars is unclear. Civil contempt carries no standard sentence. It is often described as handing prisoners the keys to their own jail cells - they can get out as soon as they choose to comply.

But Davis has pledged that she never will.