This post has been updated.
Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, spoke to ABC News on Monday about the criticism she has faced and why she will continue to oppose same-sex marriage.
ABC’s Paula Faris asked Davis who she considers her boss: her constituents, God, or the federal government.
“Well, my constituents elected me, but the main authority that rules my life is the Lord,” Davis responded.
Davis said that she has gay friends, adding that “we’re okay because we respect each other.” She also said she is willing to deny her friend a marriage license.
“I can’t put my name on a license that doesn’t represent what God ordained marriage to be,” she said.
Faris told Davis that one gay individual who finally received a marriage license said it made him feel human.
“I don’t think dignity is guaranteed in the Constitution,” Davis said in response. “I think dignity is something that you find within yourself. I feel really sad that someone can be so unhappy with themselves as a person that they did not feel dignified as a human being until they got a piece of paper. There’s just so much more to life than that.”
Davis also addressed the criticism and hate mail she has received for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
“What people say about me does not define who I am. That’s everybody’s opinion and that’s everybody’s right,” she told ABC’s Paula Faris. “I’ve been called Hitler, I’ve been called hypocrite, I’ve been called a homophobe.”
“I’ve been called things and names that I didn’t even say when I was in the world. Those names don’t hurt me,” she continued. “What probably hurts me the worst is when someone tells me that my God does not love me or that my God is not happy with me, that I am a hypocrite of a Christian.”
Watch part of ABC’s interview with Davis via Richmond NBC affiliate WWBT:
