ADDRESSING BIGOTRY
Finally Glad
Pushing back against weaponized beliefs meant to attack the smallest demographic of society.
Reliving a Nightmare
I’m a little happy today, I rarely share my personal joy here in my real world outside of Medium, but this time, I’ll make an exception.
If you missed the headline regarding Kim Davis, you can hardly be blamed.
“Kim Davis must pay one hundred thousand dollars to US same-sex couple she denied a marriage license.”
“Kim Davis, who”?
Yes, exactly. What began as a nightmare has mostly faded as an unwanted bad memory. So much has happened in the news that it may have hardly registered. Just to give you some backstory, Kim Davis, elected as Rowan County Clerk in 2014, who was married, divorced, remarried, divorced, remarried, divorced who is now remarried to her third husband took it upon herself to take a “moral stand” by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, because it violated her “personal biblical beliefs” in the “sanctity of marriage” being only between one man and one woman. She was taken to court, and she lost her case where she asserted that she should have the right to discriminate based on her personal religious beliefs and pick and choose who is worthy to get a marriage license. She appealed and lost in the district court, appellate court, and eventually lost in the Supreme Court.
Funny how that works.
What’s interesting to me is that she never drew the line at convicted pedophiles, rapists or drug addicts. She didn’t see a problem with gluttons, or gossips. She never withheld licenses from people to “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. Did she ever question license petitioners if they “Honored their Father and Mother” or if they had “Used the name of the Lord thy God in vain”? I highly doubt it.
Emboldened Bigotry
You may be asking, “Who gives a shit? This all happened in 2015 so why are we talking about it now?” First, let me say that this madness isn’t just an isolated incident or a blip on the screen. Bigots in all lines of work now feel emboldened to not only make their fascist bigotry known but are willing to act out on it.
In Casey County, Kentucky, County Clerk Casey Davis (no relation) decided to take a stand in solidarity with Kim Davis’s targeted bigotry by also refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Right Wing Fundamentalist Christian pharmacists working at CVS and Walgreens have made the news by refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control medication regardless of the need for it. It doesn’t matter that an eight- or ten-year-old girl suffers from crippling painful menstrual cycles who depends on this to live a somewhat normal life or a woman who is trying to prevent an unwanted pregnancy because it could kill her. No no no. Personal beliefs matter more.
Normalizing Consequences
Holding Bigots accountable
Kim Davis is finally being held accountable and is being ordered to pay $100,000 to a local couple who sued the clerk after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
This needs to happen more often. When these Right-Wing Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian Nationalists start to feel the heat, they are less likely to weaponize their religious beliefs by inflicting them on the rest of us.
Thank you for reading🌺
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