I know this isn’t going to be popular with my Liberal friends (I can hear the unfriending now). But please hear me out. I don’t think putting Kim Davis in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples is an effective long-term solution. I also don’t feel the crime fits the punishment.
When I first heard that Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis was jailed Thursday after defying a federal court order to issue licenses to gay couples, I thought: about damn fucking time. I was pissed that she was refusing to grant licenses to gay couples despite:
- a Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage,
- explicitly being told by the Governor of Kentucky to issue said licenses
- losing her court case on the matter.
I wanted her fired from her job and bitch slapped for being so self-righteous to think that she was above the laws she swore an oath to follow. Unfortunately, As an elected official, she can be removed only if the Legislature impeaches her, which may be unlikely in a deeply conservative state like Kentucky. This is design flaw in our government structure and it should be corrected immediately.
The clerk of Rown County, Ky. “was ordered detained for contempt of court and later rejected a proposal to allow her deputies to process same-sex marriage licenses that could have prompted her release.”
In other words, it isn’t enough that a compromise was on the table to allow her to not actually issue the license but let someone else do it; she wants to prevent anyone from issuing a license.
Dude. If you don’t want to eat pork, don’t eat pork. But don’t try to come between me and my kielbasa at Taste of Polonia, my friend.
In her mind, she sees herself as fulfilling an Edict from God. So putting her in prison not only makes her a de facto martyr, but it gives the American Taliban Republican wanna be candidates some talking points.
Did you mean all Religious Liberty Mike or just your Religion?
What Kim Davis did is more in the realm of Misdemeanor than Felony. Before anyone starts yammering about Misdemeanor versus Felony, remember in many states examples of misdemeanors may include: petty theft, prostitution, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, vandalism, or even reckless driving, All of those are much worse than not giving someone a marriage license.
To be sure, Davis is being a bag of dicks by refusing to issue those licenses. Unlike a driver’s license, a marriage license needs to be obtained in the county you intend to get married at. I cannot get a marriage license in Chicago and expect to have my wedding in Springfield, Illinois. Therefore, it is a cumbersome burden to make any couple go somewhere else. But it isn’t the same thing as vandalizing someones property, or reckless driving.
Even though I’m sure Davis is getting treated much better than Sandra Bland, Bad things happen to people in prison. Guards haze you, fellow prisoners torment you. Risk of Suicide increases.
To be clear, I absolutely believe Kim Davis should step down or do the job she was hired to do. She’s being asked to process government paperwork for her government job. Doing so is no more condoning gay marriage than giving someone baby clothes is raising their children.
If you are a pizza delivery person you are hired to deliver pizzas. You don’t get to say I don’t want to deliver pizzas to certain people, or deliver only certain types of pizza. So before anyone goes there, yes if you cannot handle pork or meat because of your belief system, don’t take this job. It really pisses me off when pharmacists decide they won’t provide certain types of birth control. You kinda had to know that this came with the territory.
And yes I know that before June, same-sex marriage wasn’t legal everywhere. It is now. Adapt or get a new job but follow the law. After all, when same-sex marriage wasn’t legal, county clerks who objected certainly weren’t issuing marriage licenses.
Instead of imprisoning her and making her a talking point for the flying monkeys of the Right Wing, she should be stripped of her position and forfeit any government pension she would receive as part of her job. After all, if she won’t do her job, she doesn’t deserve any of the compensation that comes along with it.
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