Kim Davis is so opposed to marrying gays that she went to jail over it, but she wants you to know she has nothing against them.
“I have friends who are gay and lesbians. They know where I stand. We don’t agree on this issue and we’re OK because we respect each other,” Kim Davis said in an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday.
When Davis was pushed whether she would deny one of her alleged gay friends a marriage license, Davis replied that she already had.
“I can’t put my name on a license that doesn’t represent what God ordained marriage to be,” she said.
Just who are her gay and lesbian friends? The Daily Beast sought answers.
The Liberty Counsel, which is providing Davis with legal representation, said Davis would not provide her gay friends’ names to them.
“It’s her life,” spokeswoman Charla Bansley said. “I don’t even know who they are.”
When pressed about the existence of these friends, Bansley stood firm.
“I don’t think she would lie,” Bansley said. “Someone who goes to jail for her conscience wouldn’t lie about that.”
Other attempts to locate any of Davis’s friends were also unsuccessful.
Dwain Wallace, Davis’s first husband said she did not have any gay friends when they were married. As for now? “I wouldn’t have a clue, to be honest.”
Brian Mason, the deputy clerk who has granted marriage licenses in lieu of Davis, said he didn’t know if any of the eight same-sex couples he issued licenses to are friends of his boss. Two of the couples contacted by The Daily Beast said they were not friends of Davis.
“I’m not sure,” he said when asked whether Davis knows any gay people. “I don’t know.”
Mason added he doesn’t “keep up with her personal life” enough to know whether Davis hangs out with any gays, either.
Neighbors reached by phone say they only greet Davis to say hello and they don’t know who she is friends with.
But Carmen Wampler-Collins, who married her wife in Morehead, Kentucky, said she has “no doubt that claim is true” because her lesbian niece is friends with the Davis family.
“I grew up in Morehead and it's fairly common to have people in your life say they love you and still hold deep opposition to you being in a same-sex relationship,” Wampler-Collins said. “It's a small town and many people just feel it’s best to get along and not make waves even if they face discrimination.”
In a last-ditch effort, The Daily Beast reached out to LGBT advocacy group Kentucky Equality. The group, which has nearly 6,000 supporters on Facebook, posted a message asking LGBT friends of Kim Davis to come forward. As of Tuesday evening, none had.
Davis did not return a query sent to her government email.
If you are a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person who considers Kim Davis your friend, please contact us immediately.