Last week, something magical happened. It was like Christmas for marriage equality advocates. A thrice-divorced county clerk in Kentucky was sent to jail because she refused to issue ANY marriage licenses following the Supreme Court’s ruling making gay marriage legal in all 50 states. Davis refused to issue licenses on the grounds that doing so would violate her religion. Nevermind that she’s been divorced three times, committed adultery and had children out of wedlock. Nope, gay folks getting married would be the “sin” in her religion.
What made the story one of the highlights of the week was the fact that the federal judge – a George W. Bush appointee, btw – had the option of merely fining Davis OR sending her to jail and he chose jail. He chose that option because he knew wingnuts would rally to her cause and pay whatever fines he handed down, and he chose jail for Davis because even after given ample opportunity to comply (or merely order her deputies to comply), she still refused to issue licenses. So, Davis went to jail. And wingnuts reacted exactly the way we expected, to the point where Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz were heading down to a rally in Davis’ honor on Tuesday in Kentucky. But…just an hour before the rally was scheduled to begin, the judge released Davis.
Kim Davis was jailed at the Carter County Detention Center on Thursday after she refused to comply with a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The following day, her deputies began issuing the documents in her absence.
As a condition of her release Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis not to interfere with the issuing of marriage licenses by her office.
“Kim Davis cannot, will not violate her conscience,” her attorney Mat Staver said outside the jail, with Davis by his side. Asked if that meant she would refuse to issue licenses, he promised that people would “find out in the near future. She loves God, she loves people, she loves her work, and she will not betray any of those three.”
Five of the six clerks who work under Davis swore under oath last week that they could comply with the court’s order to issue marriage licenses. In a status report filed to Bunning’s court Tuesday, the couples who had filed suit against Davis after she first denied them marriage licenses said they were able to obtain them.
In a two-page order, Bunning said he is satisfied that the county clerk’s office is now complying with the court’s ruling. He also ordered that Davis “shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples” in Rowan County. If she does interfere, Bunning wrote, the court will consider “appropriate sanctions.”
I guess that makes sense… the endgame from the judge’s perspective was simply to get the clerk’s office to function and provide their required duties, and in Kim Davis’s absence, the deputies made it work. That just seems like a reason to keep her in jail though!
That WaPo article has a million little WTF-details in it too, like “Eye of the Tiger” was playing when Kim Davis walked out of jail, and Davis giving “God the glory” of her release, because… yes, obviously God really gave a crap about her bigotry with everything else going on in the world. Davis was also asked if her five-day stay in jail was “worth it” and she said yes, it was. Which just makes me wish the judge had just left her in jail for a full week or longer. My favorite detail was this: Mike Huckabee (Josh Duggar’s BFF) offered to GO TO JAIL IN HER PLACE. Like, if Kim Davis runs back to the county clerk’s office and starts burning rainbow flags, Huckabee will go to jail in her place. That’s a freebie, Kim Davis. I dare you to take it.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
The picture with this nut, Huckabee and her overall wearing 4th husband is EVERYTHING!!
That’s my Halloween costume right there. All I need to do is get someone to follow me around and blast Survivor as I walk.
Ha! That is perfect!
Thanks to the morning news that blasted song is now stuck in my head! Rat farts!!!
Survivor has announced that they are furious she used their song and are contemplating suing her.
Lilac, I wondered about that…I hope they do.
as for Fundamentalist Barbie here…talk about delusions of grandeur.
Lilacflowers, awesome, I was waiting for that.
This has happened before with Survivor. They absolutely hate it when the rightwing nutjobs use their song.I think they have sued before.
If we lived in the same city I would absolutely volunteer. That sounds like an amazing costume.
Also, what I’m getting from this condition that she allow the licenses to be given is that either her convictions aren’t really strong enough to survive jail or else she’s going to go right back to interfering in which case she’s a liar (pretty sure that violates one of the ten commandments) and she’ll go back to jail. Either way, it’s gonna be interesting.
I love you people.
Fanty, I will dress up as Mike Huckabee and carry the boom box. Or did you want to be Huckabee?
Yes!!!
Yes!!! what her husband was wearing really said it all.
Yep. You have to ask yourself, is this real life, or has she just taken cosplaying Pensatucky from OITNB way too far?
100+ THIS!
And she looks like she could be Michelle Duggar’s perpetually pissed-off sister.
I kept looking through news stories to see if her husband’s overalls were some kind of joke I didn’t get. Alas, they were not.
Will she now be purged from the voter rolls?
Sadly, she wasn’t convicted of a felony.
Best argument for Planned Parenthood and birth control RIGHT HERE!
Yes! People need to go from door to door passing out condoms and birth control to the Mike Huckabees and Kim Davises of this world like religious pamphlets. Please, #dontreproduce folks.
But if she disobeys the judge’s orders again, won’t the subsequent punishment be harsher?
We can only hope! You know she sees herself as a martyr for the cause now!
Yup-I expect her to be back in jail by the end of the week. She was ordered to do her job and not prevent her deputies from doing their job. And she won’t be able to do that.
That smug face as she’s celebrating. Blach. That’s the face of someone who is thrilled with the cheers .
It’ll be interesting to see how well she martyrs when she is forced to fashion shower shoes out of maxi pads or whatever they do on OITNB.
“You know she sees herself as a marytr for the cause now.”
A part of me wonders of the judge did this on purpose… If he sent her to jail knowing it would turn her into a cult symbol for bigotry and ignorance. I’m really hoping he just thought she deserved jail, which she did, but I still have to wonder.
eh, I think the judge tried to come to a compromise before sentencing her. he said he didn’t want to fine her as her supporters would just pay her way and he tried to “make a deal” whereby she wouldn’t have to sign the licenses, just allow the other deputy clerks to issue them and she refused even that.
I really think the judge tried to accommodate her but she refused. SHE may have wanted that martyr mantle but I don’t think the judge wanted to give it to her.
Of course she does but she always did and always will, no matter what happens to her. There is no way to truly punish this person, she is so sanctimonious, self-righteous and dare I say arrogant that she will never understand that her actions are wrong. Even her lawyer’s statement was laughable. Um, you DID betray your people and your job, sweetcheeks, that’s why you went to jail.
I think the judge was right. She refused to do her job, the court ordered her to comply, she defied the court order and thus was sent to jail. Just like everyone else. A fine would have less of a statement, and thus the judge chose jail. I think it was the right course of action, I just wish it had been for longer.
I about vomited yesterday when I saw a CNN headline that asked if she was a modern day Rosa Parks. I am not religious, but that is blasphemy. RP stood up for equality, not bigotry. All civil disobedience is not the same.
She’s not Rosa Parks, she’s Rosa Parks bus driver.
She’s not a martyr. She’s a bigoted hypocrite, picking and choosing which of “God’s Laws” to follow, and which to disregard based upon her personal interpretation of the commandments…
Amazing how someone like this can profess this kind of pseudo-religious b.s. (i.e. hatred) and yet has been married four times, had an affair, got pregnant out of wedlock, etc etc. Yeah, that’s following God’s laws alright. Isn’t there something in the old testament about adulterers getting stoned? I’m sure she claims that long hair is part of a Biblical mandate (I’ve known people like this before) but they pick and choose what “laws” they want to follow. She does it with the Bible and she thinks she can do it with U.S. laws. I wish she could just stay in prison and with very little luck, she will because as others have mentioned here, she won’t be able to stay out of the way of the other clerks. She’s gotten a taste of the fame and someone who can be running around like she has definitely has a wild side. Can’t wait until she’s officially in prison and not getting out any time soon…
Here’s hoping…
Like…shot out of a cannon headfirst harsher?
I’d be all for that.
It is galling that she will be paid her $80K salary to just watch her clerks do her job.
If she verbally admonishes any license applicants, or starts spouting Scripture at them, could she be held in contempt?
Because I can totally see her doing something like that.
I read that the county clerk’s position has been held by her family for generations. Her adult son is one of her employees, too. I bet she feels untouchable.
@CooCooCatchoo oh please let her be held in contempt!
Can we send Huckabee the bill for her time spent as a guest of the federal government at our expense?
Hey, if they keep it up, maybe all the crazies will volunteer for jail. I personally think it would be worth the expense.
I wish she had never gone to jail. She wanted to be a martyr and now she gets to be. She makes me sick.
I agree, TX, but the alternatives were either letting her carry on or fining her, at which point wingnuts across the country would line up to throw money at her. I think the judge did the right thing, but I wish she’d been kept in jail until January when the courts could sit to impeach her.
She needed to go to jail, a fine would have been paid within 5 seconds flat by the same people cheering her on and saying she should run for president.
i’m not American but this lady cheezes me off …..oh she is LOVING her time in the spotight and it infuriates me that she is even getting what she wanted all along – media coverage. Isn’t it the LAW down there that gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states??? So she basically can flaunt her disgusting self around and be CHEERED and supported??? AND keep her job???? Way to go ..a bigot and “religious” idiot wins again
Ugh. Try living here. These people are driving me nuts!!
this over and over again, this over and over again, this. . .
Exactly!
Exactly!
Exactly!
😖😖😖
VERY few of us are cheering or supporting her — it’s just that idiots tend to cry and cheer the loudest. This post is right on the money when it says this has been like Christmas for gay rights supporters. She was jailed instead of fined and blocked from starting a GoFundMe to cash in on her support from other fundies like her, and I think she was hoping for the cash just as much, if not more, than attention. I think the judge was smart to jail her so her “fans” couldn’t pay her fine, and if he didn’t let her out before too long both sides will complain she’s wasting taxpayer money. I hope now that she’s out she just crawls back under her bridge with her uglyass attitude and outfits and hair…But we’ll see.
Read sitnexttokimdavis on Twitter. It will at least give you some great laughs throughout this spectacle!
That spoof twitter account has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen online in a very long time
From the start this was all self-indulgent. She wants money and attention. She doesn’t want her well-paying job, apparently.
Of course she is, that’s why she did it. She wants the attention. If it was truly as she claims, that she was unwilling to violate her beliefs by issuing marriage licenses, she would have resigned. Maybe issued a statement, but nothing this dramatic. People making a truly ethical choice don’t require pomp and circumstance, the knowledge that you’ve done the right thing to the best of your ability is enough. Sometimes doing the right thing requires sacrifice. People often forget that.
The rational choice is obvious, either you choose to honor your beliefs and resign with dignity or you keep your thoughts to yourself and continue to do your job. But oh no, she wanted to have her cake and eat it too. AND be cheered for it. I see very little Christian spirit here.
+ 1 to everything you said.
X1000, Wren! Most everyone gets put in a position where some aspect of their job conflicts with their ideals. Either suck it up or resign. (Also, I think it’s immoral for her to collect a salary for a job she is unwilling to perform.)
Right on, Wren. Did you see the interview with her husband, where he says that they just want to have the freedom to practice their religion? He actually used the phrase ‘equal rights!’
This whole situation with her has me livid. If it is against her religion to issue marriage certificates for gay marriages, then she should resign her position as a PUBLIC SERVANT and go work for her church, where they don’t need to issue gay marriage certificates. That’s the part of this that isn’t being acknowledged by her supporters. Since we have freedom of religion, the government can’t force churches to marry gay people, and that is where she belongs: where she doesn’t have to violate the tenets of her faith by issuing marriage licenses that are against her faith . If you are a public servant, you take an oath to follow the law of the land. So, the answer is really simple and nobody’s rights are violated.
This x 1000
Is she still on the county payroll? Seems she is out right not doing her job.
She is. At $80,000 a year. In a county where the average salary is something like $13,000.
Think I also read somewhere that this elected position is one that has been held by a family member forever.
Yes, her mother had the job before her and now her son is the one hold-out among the deputy clerks. Nepotism, much? I also want to make this disclaimer that many of us from Louisville are embarrassed by this woman and her circus of bigotry.
My question is- how does she make eighty grand a year and still look like THAT?
That’s one of the things that gets me about this whole thing-she’s sure not above taking a paycheck from the very people she’s denying rights to, is she?
@bellenola- maybe if she were nicer to gay people, she would look a lot better!
serious question – why are so many public jobs in the US elected positions? I really do want to know. where i live, this would be a job you could be fired from…and there would be a hiring process that would consist of more than just “my mom did this job, so i can too”
Seems odd to me too bokchoi (I’m not American).
I think it’s got to do with the American perception of democracy. The idea is that electing officials gives more power to the people.
There are pros and cons to that argument. The theory sounds great … but in practice you sometimes end up with situations where the person voted in turns out to be an idiot.
Mike Huckabee is certainly grasping at straws. I saw him briefly last night (wasn’t quick enough with the remote) stomping around a stage saying that the Supreme Court was in for a big surprise if it thought the ‘Mericun people would obey this ungodly ruling, or some such nonsense. They should throw his fat a$$ in jail right beside this hypocrite.
It’s going to be a long election season.
I was so disgusted with Huckabee’s pompous posturing, but then I read the most hilarious thing last night. It seems that Huckabee’s staff physically blocked Ted Cruz from getting in the money shot with Kim, Huckabee, and the hayseed husband. So there’s Huckabee trying to usurp the martyr role and offering to take Kim’s place in prison, while his people kept Cruz out of the picture. Doesn’t seem very “christian.”
This sounds like a scene out of a satirical comedy film or something.
I wonder if she realizes, or cares, that all her new political BFFs are just using her.
He made a damn slavery comparison, which is a breath away from Godwin’s Law territory. I think we need to amend Godwin’s law, actually. Anyone who brings up the Nazis and/or slavery automatically loses the argument.
I’m not sure Hukabee knows how the law works…or the constitution
People on Twitter were comparing this POS to Rosa Parks and MLK and I just about flipped a table seeing it. It’s an insult to their memories and I’m going to bet that Kim Davis is probably racist as well. So yea the comparison made me ill
bahaha you can search the rally scene on youtube. it’s hilarious. and people in the crowd chanting U S A ! U S A ! with a cross . bhahahaha.
If anyone is on Twitter, follow the @nexttokimdavis account. I like to believe that it’s actually run by one of Kim’s co-workers (I know it’s not but a girl can dream 😉)
That account is EVERYTHING that’s right with Twitter trolls.
OMG this is the best.
Does this nut realize she’s actually lost? Her goal was to prevent licenses being issued for same sex marriage, and…she lost. It’s happening. So she can play the martyr and the hero all she wants, but in the end, people will eventually forget about her, and everyone in her county still has equal marriage rights.
Apparently people are questioning whether the licenses issued by the deputies are valid because the county clerk herself didn’t sign them. This is such a mess.
That’s absurd as the county clerk is a office and not a person. The licenses issued by her deputies are 100% valid as they still have the signature from the county clerks office.
The governor released a statement that all licenses are valid.
And there’s a court order declaring them valid. She really has delusions of grandeur. As they say, “One monkey don’t stop no show.”
Yes, they are issued by the authority of the state and the county, not her personally. She’s a paper pusher and she should just push it or get out. She’s is her glory though. She’s just a garden variety fame whore.
Thanks for that confirmation, @L. And for the perfect quote to fit this situation, @Santia. Yes, @TheOriginalG, absolutely right. Push the paper or get out (or hopefully get thrown in jail for a long time). How the hell is she making 80k a year? I am still in shock over that. Fame whore is right. But you know what? If she looked like Sarah Palin, people would be giving her a huge podium and supporting a run for president. The hate and b.s. she spews (while living the most immoral life–according to the Bible–life herself) is on par with Palin but she’s too hick to ever end up with Palin’s sway over the sheeple.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m not sure she’s smart enough to realize that she lost. That, and I don’t think she ever really cared about gay marriage – being a hateful person is now apparently the ticket to fame and money, and she seemed to gleefully adopt a hateful persona.
I bet she cared enough to be a bigot to start all this in the first place, but yes, clearly the fame and attention are what is driving her now.
Actually she won in that she’s famous, she’s probably is getting money from two teethed bigots all over the country and she’s a matyr. That woman is absolutely disgusting.
She’s like George Zimmerman. People spend over $100k to buy his crappy, rage fueled paintings. Its really disturbing that people like this have so many supporters.
That ugly sack of potatoes stole Donald Trump’s “Bigot of the Week” position.
The band Survivor is contemplating litigation against her for the unapproved use of their song. This just gets better and better.
Dear God
Please let this happen and when they take her to court let them play “You Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet” on the loud speaker as they hit her up for every dime.
Amen
Oh please, yes! I love Survivor and they should sue her for ever little penny she has plus future generations who “inherit the job”! I love it when bands whose work gets used by hatemongers come for them! Go, Survivor!
Actor, LGBT activist, and internet celebrity George Takei issued a blistering response to the release of clerk Kim Davis from a Kentucky jail on Tuesday—calling the entire event “a circus.” Takei wrote:
“Well this is a bit of a circus. So let us be clear: This woman is no hero to be celebrated. She broke her oath to uphold the Constitution and defied a court order so she could deny government services to couples who are legally entitled to be married. She is entitled to hold her religious beliefs, but not to impose those beliefs on others. If she had denied marriage certificates to an interracial couple, would people cheer her? Would presidential candidates flock to her side? In our society, we obey civil laws, not religious ones. To suggest otherwise is, simply put, entirely un-American.”
Slow clap
Exactly. It’s not her job, place or right to decide which laws she will uphold. I can’t believe she still has her job. Can’t they impeach her or recall her or tie her to a rocket and shoot it off to outer space? Something?
At this point the legislature is not in session and would have to be called in for a special on, costing money – something they’re not willing to do. They may address the situation when the legislature goes back into session.
Oh, good. Thanks, swack.
It is encouraging to see intelligent messages like this. The zealots are slowly taking over and that is just scary, and trying to stop them with vulgar language (not here, but the comments both pro and con ons one sites are just disgusting) does not work. What we need is logical, calm and eloquent responses, and George’s hits all the right points.
George Takei is my hero.
Takei is amazing.
Tbh…I’m so depressed. I’ve cried to my husband about this, I cried explaining it to my 13 year old daughter. I feel so damn sad, angry and defeated that people are so damn hateful in this country and so hypocritical. I’m really struggling with it. And for these politicians to be standing by her? Are you fu*king kidding me? You want to lead this country but are standing by a woman who refuses to follow the laws of this country? I’m just…so f*cking sad.
It is really sad. I feel your frustration.
I hear you MG, it is totally disheartening. I’m just hoping that rational Americans prevail, but we can’t be discouraged, but instead, fight to put our country back on the right track. Vote, vote, vote — this story is such a good example of how much local elections matter. They are a good place to start to make change. Heck, even think about running for local office. Someone with your compassion would be a great boon to their community!
I know how you feel, MG. it is SO disheartening. The hatred and the ignorance are mind boggling.
I know. I was trying to explain this situation to my 14 year old son and I was alternately laughing and crying. But my overriding emotion was despair as I couldn’t even begin to explain all the politics.
I’ve tried to be neutral and rational with my kids when it comes to politics and government, and not try to indoctrinate them into mindlessly believing exactly what I believe as I see many parents do, but it makes me worry about all the other influences they are exposed to, the hatred and the bigotry.
Right there with you MG.
The world is built on compromise but there is no compromising with the Kim Davises of the world. The politicians who support her might as well say they support anarchy so long as it’s good and Christian anarchy.
Such a fucking shame.
No Baby, don’t be sad. Outraged, yes. Afterall it is 2015. Hold your head high. You were born too early. Just consider yourself highly evovled. Just know future generations will laugh their assess off at this backwardness. Makes ya wish a giant hunk of space junk will put this planet out of the idiots, too many idiots, it is hosting at the moment.
Sidenote: did anyone look up Cecil’s murderer in the Ashley Madison hack? Cause I think he’s in there somewhere.
I had someone at work today go on about how she would never let her daughter, who’s 2 and 1/2, be taught about transgender, sexuality and gender spectrums, etc. I want to cry.
@Esmom I feel your pain. I am not a parent but I teach young people, many of them, every semester and specifically courses on race. It is important to realize that the messages of bigotry are there and are being actively spread. It is systemic to this nation. Sharing information with them, truth that *counters* the bigotry and hatred they are exposed to as a matter of fact from every direction, is important. Pretending they aren’t exposed to such evil is what can cause problems. As we used to say back in the day–and it’s still true: silence = death. What they are exposed to is what will imprint. So scary and hard as it may be–and believe me, I struggle to the point of ongoing physical illness for what I have to share–it is best to expose them to social justice movements, to people who fought back, stood up, spoke truth with courage past fear. They will get the hate from everywhere because this country was built on it; it is up to us to share the love and build conscious, loving young people who will be unafraid to advocate for themselves and for others.
I don’t agree with Kim Davis’ actions but I think a facist line was definitely crossed when she was sent to jail. There is legal support that her employer should have to make accommodations to support her religious beliefs, whether we agree with them or not, and sure that could mean demoting her and making her the copy intern. They could have put her in a position to not harm any gay couple’s attempt to get a marriage license and not interfer with her religious beliefs. That they did not attempt to find that solution first and end up putting her in jail because of her beliefs seems like not a respectful way to resolve the situation. It seems like it was done for show and to anger people on both sides playing with a political football. The fact that people are cheering on her getting jailed and hoping they lock away the key, because they don’t agree with her beliefs, makes it a sad day in this country. I’m sure I’ll be yelled at for stating this on this comment thread but I just feel that while when it comes to disagreeing with each other we are becoming to quick to just get mad and react to each other vs talking to one another and find a way to live with each other. Again, i don’t agree with Kim Davis but many need to relaize that you can’t just lock up or force others to disappear to live in the shadows of society simply because they disagree with one’s beliefs.
She is an elected official, which means that she is basically her own boss. She is the one who could have set up the office so that she didn’t have to personally sign whatever was in opposition to her beliefs. She chose not to to do so. The judge ordered her to do so and she again refused and was held in contempt of court, which she was warned would happen. She is the one who defied a court order and jail time is the punishment for contempt of court.
I’m in HR and would disagree with you. This is not an issue of making accommodations to support her religious beliefs. Accommodations are allowed only when they do not create an undo hardship on the company/office. An employee cannot use an accommodation exception to get out of doing what the main duties of their job entail. Signing marriage licenses is a main duty of her position.
right! what she gets paid ***$80,000*** per year to do!
I feel like they gave her plenty of opportunities to work this out without jail, and she refused every one of them. She could have resigned (I don’t believe she has an employer who could reassign her to other duties), or could have allowed others in her office to process the licenses. She went through multiple courts and appeals, and every one of them said the same thing – follow the law and do your job. She prevented anyone in her office complying as well, and was enforcing her religious beliefs on them, and the citizens of the county she was elected to serve.
Jail was the last resort because she simply refused to comply with multiple court orders, orders that were simply “Do Your Job” or let someone else do it.
Look, your information is simply wrong. She was offered accommodation, one that perfectly suited her so-called religious objection. The judge said that she NEVER had to issue a marriage license to gay people so long as she did not prevent her co-clerks from doing so. You are also wrong about the law. An employer does not have to accommodate every religious objection. There are certain requirements that must be met, and she is not an employee anyway – she is an elected official who has violated her oath of office. The judge actually showed great restraint.
Yes! This x1000
No. If your religious beliefs prevent you carrying out a core function of your job, then you leave. This is not remotely equivalent to wanting to get Yom Kippur off, or needing breaks to be scheduled so that you can pray during the day. This is a woman stating that her religious beliefs allow her to defy the law that she swore to uphold, and to refuse to do her damn job.
She was the one who stated that she would invalidate any licences filled by her deputies. She’s the one who prevented a compromise being reached, and the judge gave her time to find a solution and she didn’t. I am sorry, but you are just plain wrong about what went down here.
Simply put, if she’s unwilling to perform her duties as a result of her convictions she should find employment elsewhere. To suggest that the state should accommodate her is ludicrous.
My guess is if she was Muslim and wanted to wear the hijab you might take a different stance.
If your not a troll then you are just clearly on the wrong side of this issue!
She can disagree with gay marriage all she wants. No one at ANY level of government is saying she has to like it or support it. What she cannot do as an elected official and civil SERVANT – whose job after all is to SERVE ALL the people – is impose her religious beliefs on others. She was jailed because she refused to follow the law of the land despite taking an oath of office vowing to uphold all laws AND forced her employees to abide by her belief system in not allowing any of her deputies to issue marriage licenses in her stead. Moreover, if her beliefs were that sincere, she always has the option of resigning from her post and seeking employment elsewhere. But something tells me that her beliefs are HEAVILY swayed by the $80,000/year salary + benefits she would be forced to give up if she resigned.
This isn’t fascism. This is democracy at its finest.
As an aside, all the posturing about Judeo-Christian traditional marriage cracks me up. Obviously these wing nuts have NOT read the Bible because both the Old and New Testament are chock full of marital relationships that our laws do not recognize (multiple wives, concubines, forced arranged marriage, etc.). Same sex marriage seems so tame and – dare I say – chock full of TRADITIONAL American values in comparison!
Yeah, I have to think if she were so morally opposed to what the office was doing by issuing the marriage licenses, she’d make a stand by resigning. But then that hefty paycheck and benefits (and maintaining the family hold on that well paying position) would disappear.
“What she cannot do as an elected official and civil SERVANT – whose job after all is to SERVE ALL the people – is impose her religious beliefs on others.”
“This isn’t fascism. This is democracy at its finest.”
100% correct. The 14th Amendment grants all citizens equal protection under the law. Her job is to uphold the law, not re-write it.
Yes, and if there’s anyone who understands the sanctity of a marriage contract, it’s someone on their fourth marriage. Amiright?!?
She wasn’t locked up because of her beliefs. As Lilacflowers said I’m sure she could have found a way around issuing the licenses herself. It was her stunt — deliberate and calculated — that got her locked up, not some facist regime intent on stifling her religious liberty. Please.
Let’s see if muricans say that when a Muslim working at the dmv says that he can’t issue a lincence to a woman because of his believes. Let’s say that to a sheriff clerk that refuses to give a white man a gun license because of their religious believes agains killing. And you will see the opposition of the kim Davis effect. Does anyone remember the name of the judge that opposed the loving vs va ruling? Without googling him? Yeah that will be kim Davis in the future. Remember how they treated brian white when people were ignorant about the aids virus? When they first desegregate school in the south and all those people were opposed to that? Remember when women had to fight for the right to vote? Blacks couldn’t vote? Their were always people saying that it was against their believes. And there was always the under tone of religion in all those issues I just mentioned. Well I see history repetting itself here. This too shall pass.
EXCELLENT point, Dez. Hell, people used the Bible to justify slavery. I’m glad that people aren’t afraid to call the nutwings out on their bigoted and archaic BS.
Thank you @Dez!
I don’t think accommodating her religious belief is appropriate in this case. You cannot stop others from simply receiving services that they are entitled to just to accommodate someone religious beliefs. I think the jail sentence was appropriate in this case because she refused to do her job. Firing her would be the best thing to do but that doesn’t seem to be an option(weird). That said, and I’m not bashing America, I noticed that people in this country seem to have serious trouble with the “live and let live” motto, on both sides. Which is one of the reason, in my opinion, that it took America this long to achieve marriage equality in the first place.
Firing her is not an option because she is an elected official. She would have to be impeached the their legislature (who would have to impeach her) is not in session right now.
Mrs. D., you are just wrong. She was elected to uphold the laws of the state, and she refused to do so. She was given ample opportunity for “accommodation” which I do not believe she was entitled to in the first place. She should have resigned if her so called “principles” were violated by the requirements of the job she was elected to do.
Exactly! This is what I cannot wrap my mind around people not understanding. I have accepted that some people are going to be narrow minded and judgmental, all in the name of God, forever. I can’t keep getting angry about it. However, THEN DON’T WORK AS A PUBLIC SERVANT. I don’t care if this job was part of her family history-your personal beliefs prevented you from completing the requirements. If I I refused to do part of my job and cited it conflicted with my beliefs, I would not expect to have a job tomorrow, simple as that.
She just wanted to keep that 80k /year job that had “been in the family” for generations (um, what?).
Mrs. D – ‘Find a way to live with each other’ — So true because when it comes to freedom of speech and religion if there is no tolerance for people like Kim then there is no democracy. I disagree with her on gay marriage but I do support her right to have that opinion and to voice that opinion, but absolutely not in a secular workplace.
I get a bee in my bonnet though when people think they have a right to exercise all of their personal convictions at their job. If Kim can’t separate her religious convictions from her work she needs to get a job at her church.
Keep in mind too that Kim Davis is essentially behaving exactly like ISIS – she is attempting to impose her personal religious beliefs on others in violation of the law and in many cases the express will of the people under her jurisdiction. Do you still think that kind of fanaticism does not merit a strong response and appropriate sanctions?
+1000
Literally everything you said is wrong.
+1000
“When Fascism Comes to America, It Will Be Wrapped In a Flag, Carrying a Cross.”
Just like Kim Davis and the Huckster are doing right now.
And yes, if you defy a judge’s order, and fines are not effective for compliance, YOU WILL GO TO JAIL FOR CONTEMPT TO GAIN YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH HIS OR HER ORDER. Clinton associate Susan Mcdougall spent TWO YEARS in jail for exactly this reason and no one screamed Fascism then. This is not something new. #duh
The accommodation would be for Kim Davis to allow the other clerks in the office to issue the license so she didn’t have to.
BUT NO – being the bully and American Taliban tyrant she is – she forbid her OTHER clerks from doing their jobs, this blocking her own reasonable accommodation. Forbidding the other clerks from issuing the license is way way way over the line.
They are cheering her getting locked up because she is a mean-spirited, self-righteous, narrow-minded 4 TIMES MARRIED HYPOCRITE and loud-mouthed bully.
Here are the many ways you’re wrong:
1. Kim Davis employer is the government, she is failing to do the job with all the qualifications required of it and as such has to be punished. She is also forbidding her employees and clerks from also following the law for no legal reason other than her personal beliefs. That is a crime. You can not keep slaves and have the govt. look the other way because deep in your heart you just know God wouldn’t want you to treat them with respect and equality. Since she is in an elected position she can not be fired or demoted but she can be held criminally and legally accountable for her actions and for being in contempt of a judges order.
2. Apparently you’re not well versed on the history of the civil rights movement in this country. Spoiler alert: we did not wait patiently and twiddle our thumbs while the South decided they were going to allow black students to attend school with white students. We sent police, we sent the Feds, we did things the ugly and hard way because denying people rights for even a SECOND is an unacceptable miscaririage of human Justice and liberty. To suggest that protecting Kim Davis’s feelings is more important than giving rights to those who have been denied is a joke. ALL feelings are unimportant in light of that.
3. If you believe you should smile to those who spit in your face that’s fine. Perhaps you don’t know the heat and anger that comes from having your rights denied but some do. If you delude yourself into thinking we should respect or pity this woman that’s on you but some of us want to move on from this caveman mentality that people like her keep us trapped in. You’re right I’d be perfectly content if they did throw away the key because then she’d finally be sacrificing for her ignorant beliefs.
She wasn’t jailed for her opinion or for refusing to violate the laws of her religion. She was jailed for breaking the law, abusing her power and violating other people’s rights because of her opinion.
Can we please lock her up again and somehow “lose” the key? Even looking at her makes me mad.
When a muslime stewardess was suspended, for not serving alcohol, none of those christans raised for her support.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/603688/Muslim-Stewardess-Charee-Stanley-ExpressJet-Suspended-Alcohol-Lena-Masri
And they were right not to stand up for her. If your religion prohibits you from serving alcohol, don’t take a job that requires you to serve alcohol. But your point about their hypocrisy is well taken.
Her problem is slightly different. She converted to Islam after she was already employed and had worked out an accommodation with her employer (namely that other FAs would handle alcohol service while she took care of other tasks). She was not objecting to the airline’s provision of alcohol or attempting to stop her fellow FAs from serving it or willing drinkers from imbibing. Unfortunately for her, it seems another FA complained that since beverage service is a core job duty of FAs and no one can accurately anticipate when a customer will want an alcoholic drink on a flight, her religious beliefs were creating undue burdens on her coworkers.
I am also kind of amazed that she was able to work out an accommodation. ExpressJet runs a lot of short hop flights on small aircraft. Sometimes there is only one FA for the entire plane. My guess is that may be why the complaint was filed. This woman’s religious beliefs were effectively forcing ExpressJet to assign her to work on bigger aircraft and longer haul flights where she would not be working alone, which is a huge boon to her.
This. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should be burdening your coworkers with what is essentially your job because of religious beliefs. If you can’t perform half your duties, you need to find a new job.
How on earth would you even split that up on a flight, anyway? You don’t know what people are going to order in advance. And you can’t get around those carts once they’re down the aisle. What a mess. Get a job that you CAN do.
Agreed. Seriously. Just because someone has a religious experience doesn’t mean that everything around them including *the law* and others need to bend to accommodate them! Get a new job!
Do the rules of her religion just forbid its followers from consuming alcohol, or does it also forbid them from serving alcohol to non-believers? I always thought it was just that drinking alcohol wasn’t allowed.
It depends. Some branches of Islam likely would not care if she merely served it as part of her job (as long as she did not imbibe). More strict interpretations of Islam will not allow her to even touch the beverage cart in which the booze is stored.
Several years ago a similar controversy erupted in Minneapolis at the airport. Apparently Muslim cab drivers were refusing to allow passengers with duty free bags or arriving after international flights to ride in their cabs or help them stow their luggage in the cabs on the off chance they had alcohol in their bags. I don’t remember if and how it was resolved, but there was a big debate about the cab drivers imposing their religious beliefs on others. Many people pointed out that they did not have to work as cab drivers and did not have to seek fares at the airport.
Jesus H. TEBOW. The woman isn’t being asked to officiate marriages filled with ponycorns and rainbow Lisa Frank themes. She’s only being asked to certify that couples are statutorily eligible for marriage.
That’s it. Were she a priest, and this a religious institution, the discussion would hold a different tenor. But this isn’t all the dissimilar from the flight attendant/alcohol situation also dominating the news.
If your religious beliefs are not compliant with your work, you may need to find new work. But for Davis, this year’s Joe the Plumber, the job is a golden ticket in a poor county – and book tours and speaking engagements will likely follow once she’s impeached.
A more accurate example of religious accommodation may be found in my office, where I’m a Catholic drafting development strategy for a Jewish nonprofit. My office lets me leave early on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and I know not to call my colleagues on Shabbat. Hell, at my kids’ baptisms, I’ve even served kosher-style food at a separate table. That’s religious accommodation, “fascist” or otherwise.
Kim Davis? Not a patriot. (I’d argue that she’s not a particular good Christian, either, but that’s not even the point here.)
I agree with everything you said except that I think her adultery, which is against the 10 Commandments, is relevant in that she supports her argument by saying that homosexuality is a sin. i love it when that’s pointed out, anyway. 😉
It’s also worth noting that Paul, in his letter to the Romans, urged people to follow civil law.
Welp.
GNAT – did you see Dan Savage’s op-ed on this last week? He made reference to her adultery/children out of wedlock, and made a joke about Jesus Windex to cleanse her sins.
JESUS WINDEX.
(I die. Of laughter, at least.)
Haha, Cait, I love it!
Her action or lack of action are not at all about religion or beliefs. It’s all about attention. She is reveling in this media storm with her backwood supporters. This is probably the greatest chapter of her life being in the spotlight and having high-profile legislators backing her even if it is to fit their own agenda. What a shame. I hate it when attention seekers get what they want. Damn it!
Yep. This is exactly why I’ve been avoiding commenting on these posts and will urge others to do the same. If we had ignored this bigot from the start, she wouldn’t have the notoriety that she so craves.
Look for her on fox news. My gut tells me they’ll be a book as well.
Surprisingly, I heard some talking heads on Fox news calling her out. There were two women and a man on the panel. I think the man was a lawyer and they ALL said she was wrong.
Hmmm…but if she doesn’t cut that crazy Old Testament hair, I don’t know if even the ultra-conservatives at Fox will be able to stand it. She’s just too hick. In fact, I think her downfall will be the husband. He reminds me of Vincent D’Onofrio’s character in Men in Black, the alien who “wore” the body of the dopey son on the farm. Now the husband: that’s the story I want to hear. He should get his own show.
I understand sending her to jail, but this does nothing. She hasn’t learned her lesson and she’s not going to step down. What happens next?
She is re-arrested if she continues to intefer in anyway with her clerks issuing licenses and the office has to submit paperwork every 2 weeks to prove that there is no denials or funny business happening.
How many times can she be re-arrested before she is removed though? Or will the next charges be more severe? I guess I just don’t understand how it would work.
Actually it does. Everyone who lives in her county can now get marriage licenses from the other people in the office. If she interferes her ugly ass will go back in jail.
But isn’t she in charge of telling her clerks what to do? So basically she’s back in her position but she’ll get paid 80k to sit back and do nothing because “she doesn’t agree with it?” Doesn’t seem fair.
All this attention she is getting is going to make her very rich.
She already gets paid $80,000 a year for not doing her job.
Christian Sharia
Kim Davis says her signature on a marriage license means she endorsed the gay marriage. So if she signs a gun license, and the licensee then uses that gun to kill someone, is Kim Davis guilty of the murder?
Good point!
I get that she’s all super apostolic and here with Christian Sharia law in ol’ Kaintuck.
But if she’s picking and choosing which parts of Leviticus to uphold in her non-religious profession, I wonder if she’s considered denying marriage licenses to:
-Non-believers
-People who wear artificial fibers (girl, put down that polyester and WALK AWAY NOW)
-People who don’t keep kosher
-People with tattoos
You know, just for the sake of consistency.
I also wonder if she’d have protested Loving v. Virginia in 1967. (Like we don’t all know the answer to this already.)
Ooooo (rubs fingers like Mr. Burns)! I love to hear about righteous-ass people f-ing up when it comes to their own old testament! There are so many “laws” there that ol’ girl has broken x1000. Seriously, how is the irony of this lost on those fools supporting her and especially those two who actually want votes for the presidency? This scares me somewhat because to imagine that Cruz and Huckabee actually are legitimately campaigning means that they actually think that their connection with this fool will garner them enough votes to be in the running. Either they are so stupid to side with the idiot-of-the-day without regard for their future in the race, or they realize based on whatever info available that there are enough people siding with her/this issue to actually make a difference to their campaigns. This is scary to me.
Then again, Trump may already have paid them off to “run” against him while reflecting the most extreme elements of the party to make him look moderate-right when he spews his evil hatred. I know it’s off-topic but Rachel Maddow had some spot-on commentary re: Trump’s game plan when she appeared a couple weeks ago on The Tonight Show…
None of them expect to get their party’s nomination. Huckabee, Trump, Cruz (and Palin in the last election) et al are using this presidential campaign to promote their own brands. It’s free publicity that sells their books, tv shows and speaking fees.
The Leviticus laws you cite do not apply to Christians. Here’s my lay Presbyterian attempt to explain why. With Jesus, God established a new covenant in which He cancelled many of the OT rules and instituted some new ones which are documented in the New Testament.
I have a feeling she is waiting for a Very Special Engaved Invitatation to Duggarville. She would fit right in.
Word
Yeah, and she’ll probably just go right back to denying marriage licenses.
Ms.D, please when. You come off your skunk weed and box of Peter Vella Chablis, re-read what you wrote.
Fascism. .ever been to Germany? Visit a concentration camp and their “tourist guides”? Save it for the last leg of your vacation b/c, unless you are a psychopath or suffer from crippling Aspergers (both lack of empathy) you’ll be barreling up to Amsterdam for relief. That whole area suffers from some sort of Autism, hence why the good doctor Hans
hailed from Austria. Explains why they make great products though. You getting this?
I love being from Kentucky…😒
I’m a Christian and this is such an embarrassment. The neo-Evangelicals are looking for attention and love the self- martyrdom they have labeled themselves. Christians are actually being physically persecuted in places like Iraq, seriously getting their heads cut off and this is the woman the Christian right decides to make into a martyr. What a privileged country we live in when the Christians in it have decided this is their persecution. Just smh at everything about this whole thing, privileged, spoiled brats. you’re not being persecuted because you suddenly have to give others the rights you have enjoyed for a longtime.
Word.
So adultery, etc can be forgiven by jebus for this woman, but he will not forgive her signing a few same sex marriage licenses?
Such a petty, false god she follows.
I’m just going to leave this link right here: http://www.thepcmdgazette.com/this-gay-judge-is-refusing-to-perform-straight-marriages-no-jail-time-no-media-outrage/
I don’t understand why one aspect is getting certain coverage and the other is not. That is my issue with this situation.