Is a Defiant Kim Davis 'Waiting to Cash in?' Dan Savage Thinks So

EDGE READ TIME: 4 MIN.

Last night Dan Savage appeared on MSNBC and had a few pointed things to say about Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk in the center of a media circus over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to anyone over her opposition to gay marriage. No doubt many of the religious right already see her as the Rosa Parks of a movement against LGBT rights; but Savage doesn't see her as being all that altruistic in her motives.

"I think Kim Davis is waiting to cash in," Savage said on "The Last Word." "I predicted from the beginning that she would defy all the court orders, defy the Supreme Court, that she would ultimately be held in contempt of court, lose her job, perhaps go to prison for a short amount of time. And then she will have written for her, ghost written books. She will go on the right-wing lecture circuit and she'll never have to do an honest day's work ever again in her life."

Savage also addressed Davis in a
"Davis and her supporters would like to see the 'rule of law' replaced with 'the rule of your imaginary friends.' The trouble with that, of course, is that people have very different ideas about who their imaginary friends are and what their imaginary friends think is icky. (Their imaginary friends, in fact, might not think much of your imaginary friends.) So empowering people-particularly public servants-to violate the rights of their fellow citizens based on the opinions of their various imaginary friends is an invitation to civic chaos."

He also addressed Davis' four marriages (two to her current husband) pointing out that Jesus did have kind words about divorce, but never addressed same-sex unions.

"It's a pretty neat trick' target='_blank'> If I bring up Kim Davis' four marriages, I'm being rude and mean-spirited and her first three marriages are in the past and she's saved now and fuck you, gaywad. (That's the reaction you get on Twitter when you mention Davis' three divorces and four marriages.) But it's not rude and mean-spirited for Kim Davis to tell same-sex couples that they're sick and sinful and going to hell (opinions she's free to hold) and to further prevent these couples from freely exercising their civil and secular right to wed (something Davis, as a public servant, is not free to do)-and somehow it's not dangerous for the goons at Liberty Counsel to cram this new and potentially destabilizing definition of "religious freedom" down all of our throats. (A pluralistic, multi-cultural, multi-denominational, multi-faith society where "them's my religious beliefs!" is legitimate grounds for Americans to discriminate against each other? That sounds like fun.)"
"Lordy, lordy."

"I say this with sadness, I say this as the son of a preacher, I say this as a former seminarian: This pathetic bullshit is what passes for Christianity in America today. Thanks to the efforts of hate groups like the American Family Association, the Family Research Council (co-founded by a tortured closet case and lately the employer of a kid-diddling serial adulterer), the 700 Club, the Moral Majority, the National Organization for Marriage, the National Association of Evangelicals, etc., and the mousy, near-complicit silence of left-wing and progressive Christians, 'Christian' is now synonymous with 'anti-gay bigot.'"

Savage also recommended checking out in a column entitled "It's time to remove Kentucky clerk Kim Davis" in which he reflected Savage's points:

"Many have commented on the fact that Davis herself has been divorced several times. As a strategic matter, this makes her a rather poor poster child for "traditional Christian marriage": Jesus himself treats divorce and remarriage as akin to adultery. But the point is not merely ad hominem: Davis' willingness to impose a standard of marriage on gays that she does not apply to others, herself included, shows that she's less interested in enforcing a consistent traditional Christian view than in singling out gays for disapproval. In its Obergefell decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rightly rejected such treatment as an affront to dignity and equal treatment under the law.

"Private citizens are free to express their religious views about homosexuality - however hypocritically and inconsistently - and to practice their faith as they see fit. But religious liberty is not a 'get out of your job free' card."

Note: John Corvino is professor and chair of philosophy at Wayne State University. Read more from him at johncorvino.com.

You can watch Savage's 'The Last Word" appearance at this link.


by EDGE

This story is part of our special report: "Gay Marriage". Want to read more? Here's the full list.

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