Sep 10, 2015 4 min read

It’s a sad spectacle that’s being played out in a Kentucky county where a clerk is lording herself over gay people who are doing nothing more than trying to obtain marriage licenses to which they are perfectly entitled. It’s sad that these couples are being jerked around by the whims of a woman acting not under some legal interpretation, but instead through her own special brand of selective hypocrisy.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made gay marriage legal from coast to coast, there has been no shortage of shrieking and rending of garments by those on the far right. They found themselves a most willing pseudo martyr in Kim Davis, who refused to comply with court orders to do her job as Rowan County clerk of courts and issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Davis said she was following “God’s law,” which in her mind trumps anything a terrestrial court might hand down. Blessedly, a federal judge tossed her in jail, reasoning that Davis’ cheerleaders would have paid any fines he levied. In her absence, most of her deputies, with the exception of her son, began issuing marriage licenses again, to everyone. The judge then ordered Davis’ release, but advised her that when she returns to her post, reportedly next Monday, any attempt to interfere with the process will land her back in hot water and, most likely, jail.

The hullabaloo accompanying Davis’ release from confinement was quite entertaining, if for nothing else than watching Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz battle to see who could pander hardest to the evangelical segment of the far-right fringe.

“If you have to put someone in jail, I volunteer to go,” said Huckabee “Lock me up if you think that’s how freedom is best served.” We’re not sure how that serves freedom. The public good? Quite possibly.

To their credit, some Republicans have seen enough of this foolishness. Several of the leading GOP presidential contenders have opined that Davis needs to do her job or quit.

But there’s no shortage of people in the far-right-evangelical wing of the party – legions of potential voters being tossed raw meat by Huckabee, Cruz and the like – who think Davis should be canonized for standing up for her faith. They believe she is the victim here, someone who is being persecuted for her Christian beliefs.

But Davis is using her faith to persecute those she finds distasteful. Her oath of office compels her to operate under the law. And since the Supreme Court decision, it is the law of this land that gay people are entitled to marry. If Davis finds that she can’t reconcile that with her faith, then she needs to find another job, or at the very least stay out of the way of those in her office who are willing to do their duty.

Like many of her ilk, Davis has latched onto a few verses of the Bible that she believes are supportive of her own homophobia, while conveniently ignoring others that much more pointedly prohibit other actions. Like, for instance, divorce. You don’t see Davis, on her fourth marriage, denying a license to divorced people, or to folks who have violated any other directives in the Bible. Just the gays.

There’s been hysteria on the right in recent years about the supposed threat of Islamic Sharia law sweeping across our land. How Davis’ imposition of her religion in place of existing law is different from that, we can’t figure.

This is not intended as a blanket condemnation of Christians. Our country is fortunate to have many millions of them who are kind, loving, caring, thoughtful, welcoming and – here’s a bonus – not wild-eyed zealots.

Unfortunately, in this country, the TV cameras follow the circus, and they can’t resist a clown like the one who’s putting on a show in Kentucky.

Stay tuned.