The Vampires at Kim Davis' Neck
Born again Kim Davis is probably in over her head, and certainly in it up to her neck. The Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for several days for contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to anyone since the U.S. Supreme Court declared that same-sex marriages were legal throughout the country, has become a star/darling of the radical Christian Right. At her release-from-jail fest (it was originally a protest until U.S. District Judge David Bunning surprised the crowd gathered in front of the local jail and released her) both Mike Huckabee and Texas’ own, Ted Cruz were there to greet her. Huckabee pulled a fast one and blocked Cruz from air time, which was classic but is off point here.
What’s on point is that Davis probably does not realize that the vampires are already at her neck and by the time they’re through with her, there might not be much left. An email was sent out by the American Family Association yesterday in support of not only Davis but a call to arms for “states to make accommodations for all Christians like Kim Davis.” The AFA didn’t specifically ask for money, but did point toward where a person might be able to reach the non-profit. The fundamentalist group was labeled a hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010 for demonizing false propaganda against LGBT people.
Davis’ legal team belong to another group labeled a hate-group by the SPLC. The Liberty Counsel, which claims its work is devoted to First Amendment rights focused on religious liberty, like Huckabee, Cruz, and the AFA are all hoping that Davis’ situation brings in the big bucks. And it probably will. But to keep Davis in the spotlight long enough for that to happen, Davis will probably need to get jailed again–which will probably happen if she defies the court’s order not to interfere with any of her Rowan County assistant clerks handing out marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis might feel like a vindicated star, but she will be played like a fiddle by the professional leeches surrounding her if she doesn’t watch her step. She’s in the water with sharks and someone needs to tell her that she’s the meal. And then someone ought to school her on what the separation of church and state means when it comes to doing her job.
1 comment:
Interesting Peter, taking a sympathetic view, or at least feeling sorry for someone who many don't think deserves much sympathy. As an irreligious agnostic (perhaps splitting hairs here and should say atheist), I think she was seen as fair game as soon as she stepped into that church of hers as an adult. I don't know, maybe she was inculcated into that cult as a child, but she bears some responsibility for growing up and seeing the phoniness there. She's just been pushed out front of a metaphorical lemmings herd, racing to the cliff edge.
I dislike using that analogy because it spreads an untrue depiction of natural lemming behavior, but it's so fitting for human behavior. Maybe I could call her a wooly mammoth, leading her pack away from the proto-humans, off a cliff and into extinction. Cruel image, and yet I hope her kind will truly disappear from public offices around America.
Post a Comment