Index of pages on gay issues.

By Richard Bruce BA, MA, and PhC in Economics
Former Instructor St. John's University, New York City

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Kim Davis Targeted Because of Marriage Problems?

Kim Davis was one of three county clerks in Kentucky that refused to issue marriage licenses to gays. I have read that other officials in various states denied marriage licenses to gays, but I do not have statistics on that.

Of course, those clerks that refused to issue the licenses were only a small portion of the officials who felt that signing the licenses compromised their ethics. County clerks have resigned in protest over the issue, and 57, almost half of the 120 county clerks in Kentucky petitioned the Governor over the issue.

Why Kim Davis?

But those who are resigning or merely petitioning are not the issue I am bringing up. The question is why was Kim Davis targeted, given that she was only one of many clerks throughout the United States who refused to carry out the Supreme Court's decision?

An important point to understand is that Kim Davis was not preventing any gays from being married or having valid legal marriage licenses. Any of the 120 county clerks from the 120 counties in Kentucky could issue a marriage license which would be legal for a marriage preformed anywhere in the state of Kentucky.

The ACLU Targeted Kim Davis

Kim Davis was forcing the gay couple to travel to a nearby county. Obviously, no one would hire a lawyer and go to court simply to avoid such a minor trip. Kim Davis was taken to court because the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, offered free legal services to the gay couples that were refused a license by Kim Davis.

But even with free legal services, the inconvenience of going through with this court case for the gay couples was many times the inconvenience of going to a neighboring county for a license. The gay couples were probably convinced by the ACLU that the case was good for the cause.

The point is that ACLU and/or other leaders in the gay marriage movement could effectively choose which clerk would be put on trial, and Kim Davis made a great target because she had been married four times. The media and much of the public has found Kim Davis amusing. They see her as an example of typical Christian hypocracy. But, are Kim critics being hypocritical in targeting and shaming a woman who has been married and divorced many times?

Christians Not as Chaste as Muslims

Christian hypocracy in sexual ethic is real. There is no question that Christians have not lived up to the strict instructions of Jesus concerning sex. There is no question that our failures have brought the strict rules of sexual propriety that Jesus and the various Christian churches taught into disrepute.

For example, in Sub-Sahara Africa, where Christianity is the dominate faith, AIDS infected a large portion of the population. But the Muslims farther north have gone relatively unscathed. The difference between the Christian and Muslim experience is on the order of a hundred to one. So not only have Christians failed to live up to the lofty standards of Christ, but they have also failed to match the real world behavior of the Muslims.

Kim Davis Picked to Make Christians Look Bad

The four marriages of Kim Davis and her promiscuity outside of marriage is another example of the failure of predominately Christian societies to live out the mandates of Christ. But before we assume that all Christians are like Kim Davis, or even that she is typical, we should remember that Kim Davis was probably targeted by the ACLU precisely because she had such a bad marriage record.

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Index of pages on gay issues

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Last updated July 16, 2020