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Kentucky Court Clerk: I'd Rather Die Than Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples

Kentucky Court Clerk: I'd Rather Die Than Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples

On Friday, June 26, 2015, in a landmark decision, The Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage the law of the land. That ruling triggered an outburst of happiness among many and deplorable hatred in a few. Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family…In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.” Such noble sentiments are apparently lost on some of the most religious Americans.

As to be expected, the decision did not make some happy. Mike Huckabee, who is never lost for words and vows to resist the decision, even questioned the authority of the Court: “This irrational, unconstitutional rejection of the expressed will of the people in over 30 states will prove to be one of the court’s most disastrous decisions, and they have had many. The only outcome worse than this flawed, failed decision would be for the President and Congress, two co-equal branches of government, to surrender in the face of this out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny.”

Some states, mostly southern states in the Bible belt, have expressed willingness to resist the Court’s decision: Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Utah. However, as time passes, some states have come to accept the inevitability of the decision. While some states still resist, it is becoming more localized – a few counties in Alabama and Texas. Initially resisting, the governor of Louisiana announced a couple of days after the SCOTUS decision his state would comply.

However, as more institutional resistance to same-sex marriage is waning, local individual craziness continues. The Huffington Post reported that three Kentucky court clerks have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the name of their Christian beliefs.  In fact, they held a rally earlier the week, in which more than 5,000 similarly thinking bigoted loons showed up.

One clerk, Casey Davis, complaining about the war on Christianity, said “If it takes it, I will go to jail over — if it takes my life, I will die for because I believe I owe that to the people that fought so I can have the freedom that I have, I owe that to them today, and you do, we all do. They fought and died so we could have this freedom and I’m going to fight and die for my kids and your kids can keep it.”

According to the Courier Journal today, a gay couple was turned away for the third time, despite a court ordering the issuance of a marriage license, by a Rowan County Kentucky clerk.  Not so coincidentally, the same Kentucky county that is home to the “I would rather die” Casey Davis – this time it was a woman named Kim Davis.

Kim and Casey are not related, they do, however, clearly share the same streak of authoritarian pretension that compels them to pass judgement on others and their life decisions; to be so self-absorbed that they believe their personal freedoms are being infringed upon by the existence of natural things they cannot understand. They also share the delusion that their “freedom” to discriminate against their countrymen is more powerful than a federal appeals court.

Watch it here:

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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