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A Kentucky clerk has been put in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis that she could either comply and issue the licenses or face time in jail.
She refused on the grounds that, even as an employee of the state, issuing marriage licenses to gay couples goes against her deeply-held Christian beliefs.
Davis was arrested and booked on Thursday.
Her attorney Mat Staver called the ruling “outrageous.”
“If this country has come to this point where a judge jails someone like Kim Davis for their religious convictions – then we have lost our religious liberty,” Staver said.
“This cannot be tolerated… This is not the kind of country – this is not the America that our founders envisioned.”
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Davis said that she was “prepared to go to jail” standing up for her religious convictions:
“I’ve weighed the cost and I’m prepared to go to jail, I sure am,” said Davis. “This has never been a gay or lesbian issue for me. This is about upholding the word of God.”
“This is a heaven or hell issue for me and for every other Christian that believes,” she said. “This is a fight worth fighting.”
Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage two months ago. She argued that her Christian faith and religious freedom should exempt her from having to do so.