Hate flung at Kim Davis

This Kim Davis affair has been dragging on for several weeks now, and it looks like the justice system is finally working out the legal issues—Mrs. Davis sits in jail and gay couples in her Kentucky county are receiving marriage licenses.

The two sides are still much divided, and the gap is widening. The Christian right is making Mrs. Davis a martyr and ramping up their “religious persecution” hate speech, and the left is dragging her through the mud in an effort to discredit her.

The issue I would like to comment on is the hate being flung at Mrs. Davis. I’ve seen many insulting posts, freely attacking her personally. It’s shown me a side of the gay community that I find discouraging. There is no need to put her personal life on display for all to judge. There is no need for snide comments about her looks, her level of intelligence, her past marriages, or anything else about her personal life. There is no need to give her more status than any county clerk merits. All the hate only goes to show the pettiness of many people on the left.

The only real issue here is an elected official who refuses to follow the law. It doesn’t matter why she refuses to do her duty, and it certainly doesn’t matter how ignoble her past may be. There must be a way to give her her dignity, while resolving the legal question of how to give gay couples in that Kentucky county marriage licenses.

Please, people, stop the personal assault and focus on the legal issue.

The gay community is lucky there are so few people in authority actively opposing same-sex marriage. I read this morning where fourteen counties in Alabama are not issuing marriage licenses at all, as a way to not break the law and still not issue marriage licenses to gay people. The good news is, over fifty counties in that state are issues licenses to anyone who applies, so these bigots are not stopping anyone. We have won the war, be thankful. What we are seeing now is a last gasp from the homophobic right. Let them gasp while we move forward into a bright future.