I never thought I would see the day when I'd have to begin yet another piece with the words, “I never thought I'd see the day.” However, this is the position in which I find myself currently.
Allow me to elaborate—yes, yes, I know what you are thinking. I was casually minding my own business the other afternoon whilst performing my job duties. In other words, I was trying desperately to peddle ads for this fine publication.
All at once, some familiar music from the early 1980s began to fill the room, which seemed odd to me since my telly was tuned in to a 24/7 cable news outlet. I oft' have that type of background noise playing during my work day just as a distraction or as a way to garner enough rage to fill my column space.
Due to the tune in question, I thought that a segment might be fast approaching about Sylvester Stallone or about Rocky III since the song was, “The Eye of the Tiger,” which was the theme song of said movie.
Suddenly my full attention was seized as I looked up from my work and gazed upon the actual talking box in my office/bedroom region. Dear heavens, Sly Stallone was nowhere to be found. Rocky wasn't in sight. Overly buff men in boxing attire were simply not present nor was the band Survivor who actually wrote and performed that song.
Instead I watched in sheer and utter amazement as a woman named Kim Davis worked her way to a stage in front of a jailhouse kind of place in Kentucky. I was certain that a hallucination had taken over because I could have sworn that I saw Mike Huckabee by her side. Could that really have been happening or was my mind taking a journey back in time via some kind of drug flashback. (Oh stop with your judgmental attitude. Yes, I tried some psychedelics back in the same era in which the above-mentioned song hit the radio waves. Didn't you ever do something shocking, lurid and yet true? I digressed and in parenthesis, all because you had the chutzpah to think poorly of me for a goofy youthful expedition.) Indeed, it was Huck flanking her on her right as she approached the microphone.
Huck and her lawyer, who was on her left, each grabbed an arm in order to aid her as she did that V kinda deal that connotes a victory. You know the one where it's opened up and over the head. It was just like Rocky did in the movie. This spectacle unfolded for what seemed like an eternity and then she spoke.
First of all, or fifteenth of all, at this point, I am assuming that you have heard of this chick? She is the one who has become somewhat of a darling for extreme right wing candidates and like minded thinkers all because she refused to follow the Supreme Court ruling and issue same sex marriage licenses in her state of confusion—I mean Kentucky.
She based her refusal on her religious beliefs. She simply could not conceive of having her name on a document if gays were involved at all. (I wonder how she feels about issuing a document to a person who owns a seafood restaurant or to a person who wears a garment consisting of blended fabrics. Those are also abominations according to her holy text, just to be clear. Oh, I just recalled that Jesus was abundantly clear on divorce so I bet she'd refuse to issue a license to a previously divorced person. I'm certain that would be the case. Wait, I think she has been married a few times herself but that was before she found religion, which is always very convenient.)
Anyhow, as I seriously considered reaching for an alcoholic beverage during work hours, she managed to utter a few words, Huckabee offered to serve jail time for her and they all, at long last, exited stage left. As all of this was happening, Ted Cruz was spotted in the crowd pouting, more than usual, because he had missed his opportunity to get in on the action.
Can you see why I began this piece with the words, “I never thought I'd see the day,”?? I mean such adoration for a person who is LITERALLY stepping on the rights of other people. This has flipped totally upside down. Good gravy, what is happening here folks?
Now, for a few days prior to the above-mentioned circus, I had been following the situation via regular and non corporate news outlets, as is my nature. I also had the pleasure (?) of spotting many a facebook comment about her and her situation.
The basic theme that I saw repeatedly was that she was on par with, I want you to sit down for this one please.... Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. No, you did not just suffer from your own brand of flashback. I am dead serious. This woman, who is now infamous for denying services to gay couples through her position as COUNTY CLERK, thus violating a direct court order—in other words, denying civil rights to those with whom she disagreed, was being heralded as some sort of hero for DENYING those rights. This was all in the name of her closely held religious beliefs. So, in essence, she was following her religious convictions rather than following the court order.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, I believe that MLK and Rosa Parks fought FOR civil rights and not against them. Davis did the polar opposite and yet was almost worshiped as some kind of hero of rights.
I hear the argument frequently that the gay “community” is trying to force others to conform to their way of living or something along those lines. To me, it appears to be the reverse. Some people like Kim Davis are actually forcing THEIR views on other people. We do not live according to other people's religious convictions here in the US of A. Sorry to break it to you. I am quite certain that many evangelical Christians would not want to live by strict Catholic rules, for one example.
I've been telling people for quite some time to simply replace the words “gay marriage,” with “interracial marriage,” in order to fully understand the situation at hand. Some have actually pondered on this and others claim the two don't relate at all.
I must point out that the same religious freedom sort of objections were raised when it came to interracial marriage. The Bible was absolutely used to deny blacks and whites the right to get married. I refer you to the Supreme Court case called Loving vs. Virginia. Clearly, I do not have the time, space or inclination to educate all in my path about such cases and/or shenanigans so I will trust you to do some research on the matter.
I am absolutely and totally floored over this whole thing. I simply do not understand why or how the whole gay marriage thing has any impact whatsoever on religious freedoms. Call me silly, and I'm sure you have but, I was under the impression that Christianity was supposed to be about love, over everything else. I have a plethora of Christian friends and family members who simply don't feel threatened in any way over two people of the same sex getting hitched.
Also, if I took a shot of beer, not even anything stronger, every time I heard this, “Supreme Court cannot make laws,” and/or “non-elected judges made a decision, blah, blah, blah....,” I would have been hospitalized with alcohol poisoning quite some time ago. (Stop with those evil wishes and thoughts please.)
In closing and yes, we all know that it's way past due, I must remind everyone that freedom of religion is a wonderful concept. I love it and I live for it. I adore separation of church and state as it keeps government neutral on matters of faith, as it should be. It is beneficial for the very religious and for those with little to no belief system.
However, and you knew that was coming, your religious freedom ends when it infringes upon my civil rights. Period, end of story. Thank you, stop again. Bless you and drive through.
I will leave you with a thought game of sorts. I want you to picture the following scenario. A Muslim with closely held religious convictions, refuses to issue driver licenses to women, all due to a holy text. Can you imagine Huck or any other person coming to the rescue? Would 1980s victory kind of music blare as said Muslim was escorted to a stage? I can tell you simply from my experience of living in this rural area that those same people who adore this Davis creature would certainly be screaming about sharia law until eardrums across this fine land of ours shattered simultaneously. Just ponder on that one for a bit if you will, and even if you won't.
THE END.