The Kentucky Clerk

By now I am sure everyone has heard all about this Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis who has refused To issue marriage licenses to gay couples because it is against her religious beliefs. So much so that she refused to let her deputies issue the certificates, and even from jail stated that the licenses were not valid because she didn't approve them. Many people argue that there are so many issues at play here, but I see it as pretty simple when you break it down.

Let me start by saying I am Catholic and definitely more conservative in my beliefs than liberal. I also have people close to me that the gay marriage issue directly affects. And I am raising my kids in an increasingly effed up world where just existing is hard enough as it is. I want my kids to be happy and comfortable with whoever they are and grow into be, and the best way I can teach them that is by being kind and tolerant and accepting of everyone. Teaching them that while they may not agree with how people are, that doesn't give them the right to be mean and rude and hateful, because we are all human and we all have feelings. I am also raising them under our faith, and rather than getting hung up on specific doctrinal teachings, the bottom line is that we have a God that loves us all and wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be.

I have a huge problem with the Kim Davis' of the world hiding behind their religious beliefs and using it as a reason to be intolerant and hateful. Because that is what she is doing. Can you ever imagine standing behind your counter and telling someone you won't serve them because they are gay and you don't agree with them? Can you imagine being the gay person standing there having someone talk to you like that? I watched some of the clips of Kim shutting down her services to these people, and for someone so religious she certainly showed no compassion whatsoever towards these other human beings. She was downright hateful and rude. And I refuse to believe there is any God you could worship who is giving her props for behaving that way toward another human who He created. There is no God so hateful, and by definition of any Christian religion, God is a loving, merciful being. (I say Christian only because I don't really know the specifics of other religions and what they teach about their Gods)

Then there is the whole Seperation of church and state, and religious freedom. But this is someone who is in a public office, an elected official. I don't know much about what the specific law states, but I think the judge basically said when you are in that type of position you have to follow the law of the land. So her religious convictions take a back seat to her job. If you have that type of elected job that you are being paid to do, in my opinion you better damn well do it, or you need to step down. Period. Too often I think people hide behind the religious beliefs platform to get out of doing something they just don't want to do and using it as their way of being bigoted and having a closed mind. But if you are in that type of elected, paid position, you give up that right, so to speak.

The bottom line is that it really is a human rights issue. An equal rights issue. None of us have a right to stand there and cast judgement because not one of us is perfect. Kim Davis and others like her have never once sat back and thought about what it feels like to be on the other side of the hate she is spewing. It makes me sick that she has a throng of supporters who rally and raise money in her favor. There are so many actual issues that could benefit from the attention so much more...all you have to do is scroll through the headlines to see all the horrendous things happening in the world that only get a fraction of attention that this awful woman has received. And for what? Because two people of the same sex want to get married? What's the big damn deal? Because they can't procreate in the "natural" way like the bible teaches? Well, neither can a HUGE majority of the heterosexual population. Because gay marriages are more likely to end in divorce?? Well, Kim Davis is straight and is already on her third marriage, and had children out of wedlock....oh, the horror!! But wait...I forgot, she is "forgiven" so she gets a pass.

Kim Davis needs to take a page out of the bible she preaches so hard about, or rather a passage "Let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone." Being "forgiven" makes you no less a sinner.