Arizona Senator John McCain, a
Republican, said over the weekend that he agrees with Kentucky county
clerk Kim Davis.
Davis earlier this month spent five
days in jail for refusing to comply with the Supreme Court's summer
ruling striking down gay marriage bans in all 50 states. Davis said
that issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples would
violate her conscience.
Speaking to reporters at the Values
Voter Summit, McCain said that Davis was right to “exercise the
dictates of her conscience.”
“I think she was right in that she
can exercise the dictates of he conscience and everyone should
respect that,” McCain said. “I do not believe that therefore she
should violate the law. She should have just said, 'I refuse to do
it.' Just like Hobby Lobby case, which we won, because those people
were allowed to exercise their religious beliefs by the United States
Supreme Court.”
“You think that Kim Davis could say,
'I don't want to perform this?'” a reporter asked.
“Yes,” McCain
answered.
Davis was honored Friday for her
actions at the annual conference of Christian leaders.
(Related: Kim
Davis honored at FRC's Values Voter Summit.)