Anti-gay marriage US clerk appeals jail ruling

The US clerk who was sent to jail this week for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses is appealing the ruling that landed her in prison, her lawyer said.

Kim Davis, a born-again Christian, has been in jail since Thursday in Kentucky for contempt of court after refusing to issue the licenses due to her opposition to gay marriage, which the US Supreme Court legalized across the United States in June.

The Rowan County clerk made headlines for insisting it was against her religious beliefs to do so.

"While most Americans are enjoying the extended holiday weekend with family and friends, Kim Davis sits in isolation for the fourth day in jail," her lawyer Mat Staver said Sunday, one day ahead of US Labor Day.

"We are working through the holiday to secure Kim's freedom," he said in a statement, which included a link to the appeal.

While US District Judge David Bunning has said Davis can be released as soon as she agrees to issue marriage licenses to anyone who qualifies, as her position requires, or resigns from that position. She can be held indefinitely if she refuses to do so.

Her attorney has previously said she has no intention to resign or to "violate her conscience and betray her God."

Rowan County handed out its first certificate to a same-sex couple on Friday.

Source: AFP