For those who don't know Kim Davis is the county clerk from Kentucky that refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. In addition she and her office has not issued any marriage licenses (even to strait couples) since the summer when the Supreme Court declared gay marriage to be the law of the land, overturning many states laws.
While recent elections have shown the tide to be turning in the view of gay marriage, the US constitution does not even address marriage, yet many state constitutions do. In the 90's in fear of the Supreme Court one day declaring this new law the Republican led congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act and was signed into law by President Clinton. In a case of pure irony in 2013 the Supreme Court ruled this law (the very law designed to stop the Supreme Court) unconstitutional. President Clinton himself later expressed regret for signing that bill into law and lobbied for it's repeal.
When the Supreme Court "found" a new right in the constitution the reaction was very similar to when they "found" the right to privacy and legalized abortion. The American people never got the vote and those who did get to vote on gay marriage had all their voted neutralized, along with every law passed by state legislatures. The courts is where liberal ideas are born as they can not survive a public vote in most cases.
The Catholic Church considers marriage to be one of it's seven sacraments. Many other churches consider marriage to be holy. Although I support the right of gays to marry whomever they chose I also respect the right of freedom of religion, even if that religion is bigoted.
Christians love to point to Leviticus when discussing gay marriage but tend to gloss over the Bible's very clear instruction that gays, disobedient children, and anyone who believes a different religion deserves to die. Yet it is their right to pick and chose I guess.
Here in America we have the freedom of religion, we can believe in anything we want. If I want to build a church that believes everyone who doesn't eat their Wheaties to be an abomination and we hold the last supper at the end of the month when my parishoners run out of food stamps that is our business. If I want to preach that homosexuality is a sin that is my right, it is only when I carry out the orders of the Bible and start stoning people that my religious freedom infringes on the rights of others.
With recent court cases involving
bakeries being sued for not making wedding cakes for gay couples. So much for the right to refuse service to anyone, now businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone except gays. I one day expect to see a sign that says, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone unless they are female, transgender, disabled, homosexual, or basically anyone other than a straight white man." Mark my words that day is coming soon.
Kim Davis is a Democrat and has worked in the clerks office for 27 years before being elected to her current office last November, in the last election she ran unopposed. I strongly doubt the Republicans will put up a candidate to run her out of office as the GOP tends to be against gay marriage, and the only way the Democrats can unseat her is to challenge her in the primary, which really is not going to be a priority for them as they want control over washington, not some hick town in Kentucky.
She can't be fired because she is an elected official, the next election is the only way to out her and given her popularity in her county I don't see that happening. I predict she might even use this to seek higher office.
Now here are some facts to remember. Her main issue was she did not want marriage licenses for gay couples to bear her name. That is fine I can respect that, what I do disagree with is her refusal to allow the deputy clerks who work under her to issue the licenses. The licenses would not bear her name but rather the name of the clerk who filed the paperwork.
Kim Davis appears to be part of a Apostolic church and a very conservative one it appears (based on her conservative style of dress) She of course has been married 4 times but her current husband is also her first. She did have two twin boys outside of marriage but all that happened before she was a Christian as was her 3 divorces. She has only been a Christian for four years. Her apostolic faith would be against a divorced person from being married. Still I doubt if she is checking strait couples to see if either was previously married.As best I can tell, this is the
website of her church.
Like I said, we have freedom of religion, even the right to believe and practice bigotry. Fortunately, we now live in the internet age and Thunderf00t said it best, the internet is where religions come to die. People have the right to pick and chose which parts of their holy book they want to live by. Bakeries also have the right to refuse service to anyone, or at least they should.
I predict that if a religious exemption is not made for Kim Davis, the church's will be targeted next. As non-profit corporations they are ripe for the picking if they refuse to rent their halls for a gay wedding, just you wait this will happen. Kim Davis is not refusing to do her job or uphold the oath of office she took when she was elected, the law changed, her job changed. Now she is being forced to do something she feels that her god will judge her for later. FYI the people who were originally denied licenses simply got them from another court. Seems reasonable. My grandfather had to do the same thing when the clerk refused to isssue him a license. He just drove 10 miles.
Kim Davis does not belong in jail, that is not a headline we need. While I disagree with her beliefs I support her right to live by them. The rules of her job changed without her input or consent months after she took the job. I will be surprised if she runs for re-election for clerk, I see her using this to seek higher office. However, if she does seek relection I don't see much hope for whomever tries to run against her. She has become a hometown folk hero.
