Supporters of Rowan County clerk Kim Davis who refuses to issue any marriage license, stand outside the federal courthouse to support during her hearing in Ashland, Ky. Thursday Sept. 3, 2015. 

MOREHEAD, Ky. — On Friday, James Yates and William Smith Jr. were the first same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license in Kentucky’s Rowan County, where County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue licenses since a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June.

Deputy Clerk Brian Mason, who operated as “marriage license deputy” in Morehead on Friday, issued the license to the couple a few minutes after doors opened at 8 a.m.

Mason, along with four other deputy clerks, Thursday agreed to begin issuing marriage licenses after U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning ruled Davis in contempt of court and placed her in federal custody.

Davis had been ordered by Bunning to issue marriage licenses to legally eligible couples regardless of gender after a landmark Supreme Court decision lifted gay marriage bans nationwide.

She immediately stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether, because she said her Christian beliefs did not allow her to approve of gay marriage. She said she decided to also not issue licenses to straight couples in order to keep from discriminating against a particular group.

The scene in Morehead on Friday presented a turn of events for Yates and Smith when they approached the clerk’s counter for a fourth and final attempt at obtaining a marriage license.

Mason had previously denied the couple a license the third time they visited the courthouse, one week and one day ago.

When Yates questioned Mason why he would not issue, he repeatedly said, “We’re not issuing marriage licenses.” He offered to let the couple talk directly to Davis, but they declined.

Yates and Smith live and work in Rowan County and have been a couple for almost 10 years.

They were hoping for a summertime wedding after the Supreme Court’s ruling in late June, but have had to alter their plans, given the circumstances surrounding the marriage license issue here throughout the past two months.

Outside the courthouse, a crowd of protesters demonstrated on the lawn and beside the courthouse doors as the couple entered and exited the building.

About 100 members of the media, local and international, collectively crushed in on them when they approached the clerk’s desk inside and swarmed as they crossed the road to the neighboring judicial center 150 feet away.

Yates told the media he felt overwhelmed and officers attempted to guard them as they pushed through the crowd, firmly gripping each other’s arms and visibly trembling.

Protesters chanted, “Jail Bunning!” and waved placards with sayings like, “Welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah” and, “#Love already won,” referring to Jesus Christ and biblical teachings on love.

Across the lawn, a woman talking to a reporter held a sign with multi-colored hearts drawn on it that said “No shenanigans,” likely referring to a statement by Bunning to the deputy clerks in court.

After talking to each of the six deputies, Bunning said he did not want to hear of them performing any “shenanigans” today when it comes to issuing marriage licenses.

“Like if you get together and all decide to not come into work except Davis, who won’t issue them,” Bunning said, referring to Kim Davis’ son Nathan Davis, who was the only deputy still unwilling to follow Bunning’s orders.

Many of the deputies who said they would comply with court orders, told Bunning they did not want to, but felt like they had to for fear of being jailed for contempt, like their boss.

Bellamy is a reporter for The Daily Independent in Ashland, Kentucky.