Kim Davis: It's 'Ironic' God Picked Me to Defend Marriage

Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has been reflecting on her chaotic 2015, describing it to the AP as "a very emotional and a very real situation to all people." Davis explains she took a stand because simple proselytizing wouldn't have swayed anyone. "No one would ever have remembered a county clerk that just said … 'Even though I don't agree with it, it's OK. I'll do it,'" Davis said. "If I could be remembered for one thing, it's that I was not afraid to not compromise myself." She's not sure if she'll run for re-election in two years, noting "a lot of things could happen between now and then," and that she probably won't go for higher office. "I'm not a politician," she tells the AP. "I very much enjoy my job." Davis also brought up what some say are her hypocritical views on gay marriage being a sin, as Davis herself has been married four times, the AP notes.

"How ironic that God would use a person like me, who failed so miserably at marriage in the world, to defend it now," she says. "The Lord picks the unlikely source to convey the message." But one of the men who sued Davis over her refusal to issue him a marriage license scoffs, saying, "It makes me uncomfortable to hear people using God … to justify their bigotry. I don't see how that makes her a victim or a hero. She really just had a job to do, and she just needs to do her job." Meanwhile, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin issued an executive order Tuesday removing all county clerks' names from marriage licenses to "ensure that the sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored," per the AP—a decision Davis' lawyer calls a Christmas gift. (Also part of Davis' busy 2015: meeting the pope and fending off people who've called her "Hitler.")