Kentucky governor-elect to appease Kim Davis by removing clerk names from state marriage licenses

Kentucky Governor-elect Matt Bevin said on Friday that when he assumes office next month he will change the state marriage license form to appease clerks who have objected to issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

"One thing I will take care of right away is we will remove the names of the county clerks from the marriage form," he told reporters in the Capitol rotunda.

Bevin said he would make the change by executive order.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who spent five days in jail for not issuing licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of a court order, took steps to remove her name and office from the forms in September.

She had repeatedly urged current governor, Steve Beshear, to remove clerk names from the form or provide another type of relief so she would not violate her Christian beliefs.

Attorneys for Davis could not immediately be reached to comment.

(Reporting by Steve Bittenbender, Editing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)