A Kentucky county clerk named Kim Davis refuses to issue same-sex marriage licenses, but has been married four times and has two kids out of wedlock herself, the Associated Press reports.
Davis came under fire and is now facing lawsuits after she cited “God’s authority” as to why she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruled in June that gay couples have a constitutional right to wed.
The controversial Christian woman is now being called a hypocrite by protestors after U.S. News & World Report revealed that she has children out of wedlock and failed marriages. According to court documents, Davis married a man named Dwain Wallace when she was 18 and divorced him in 1994. Two years later, she married Joe Davis, whom she divorced after 10 years. She later had twins with and then married Thomas McIntyre, but divorced him less than a year later. She remarried Joe, who adopted her twins, in 2009.
Joe, who described himself to protestors and reporters as “an old redneck hillbilly,” defended his wife, telling news outlets that “they want us to accept their beliefs and their ways, but they won’t accept our beliefs and ways.”
Kim’s lawyer, Mat Staver, also defended his client, calling her divorces “mistakes.” “She’s regretful and sorrowful,” Staver told U.S. News & World Report. “That life she led before is not the life she lives now. She asked for and received forgiveness and grace. That’s why she has such a strong conscience.”
In a statement released by Staver, Kim argues that her decision to turn away same-sex marriages is “about marriage and God’s word.”
"To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God's definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience," Davis wrote. "It is not a light issue for me.”
