A federate appellate court ordered a Kentucky county clerk who has refused to recognize the Supreme Court's landmark ruling legalizing same-sex unions and issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District affirmed a ruling issued by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, who had held that Rowan County clerk Kim Davis' religious objections do not "excuse her from performing the duties that she took an oath to perform," the Christian Science Monitor noted.

In a convoluted order, Bunning had later effectively stayed his own order until the federate appellate court could weigh in, but despite the higher court's decision, Davis is still refusing to issue the marriage licenses, the Associated Press detailed.

On Thursday morning, a deputy clerk in her office would not honor the third application for such documents submitted by William Smith and James Yates, the newswire said.

"They just don't like gay people, they don't want us to get married," Yates charged. "And they'd rather burn the earth and not let straight people in Rowan County get married either."

A lawyer for Davis told the AP that his client, a divorced woman who has been in the county clerk business for 27 years, is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court, the New York Times noted. The suggestion apparently caused consternation among attorneys for the plaintiffs seeking the licenses, who fear Davis and her lawyers may cause delays until she runs out of legal options.

"This is the third opinion issued against Ms. Davis herself, and one would think that this would educate her on a core tenet of democracy, which is that politicians cannot govern according to their religious beliefs," Daniel Canon, a cooperating lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the New York Times.

There is no guarantee, however, that the Supreme Court would even agree to hear the clerk's case, CNN noted. "We will be in contact with (Davis) in determining the next step, but one option is to ask the Supreme Court for a stay pending appeal," said Mat Staver, the founder of the conservative Liberty Counsel that is representing the Kentucky county clerk.