Family Research Council to Award Ky. Clerk Kim Davis with Award

The Family Research Council has announced its decision to award Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis with its "Cost of Discipleship Award" at a conference later this month.

The conservative public policy group recently announced that it will be giving Kim Davis, the clerk for Rowan County, the award after she was jailed earlier this month for refusing to distribute gay marriage licenses based on her religious beliefs.

Davis, who has since been released from jail, will receive the "Cost of Discipleship" award at FRC's Values Voter Summit later this month.

"We are pleased to announce that Kim Davis will be honored at this year's Values Voter Summit. After meeting with her last week, I can tell you that Kim Davis wasn't looking for this fight, but she is not running from it either," FRC President Tony Perkins told The Christian Post this week.

"What militant secularists are almost certainly afraid of is what is coming to pass: courage is breeding courage. When other people might have cowered in fear, Kim took a stand. And today, millions of Americans stand with her and for the religious freedom upon which our nation was founded," Perkins added.

Davis has continued to refuse to issue gay marriage licenses, citing her Christian religious beliefs.

Although Davis has been released from jail, she has been ordered by a judge not to stand in the way of her deputies issuing the licenses.

The clerk has argued that she questions the licenses' validity since they do not carry her signature, but Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has said that the licenses will be legally recognized.