I don’t have a problem with people breaking the law for the right reasons.
I would have helped Harriet Tubman on the underground railroad, sat in protest at a whites-only counter, harbored Jews, etc. And if I were a higher-up in Nazi Germany, I think I’d try to undermine the system before resigning my post, especially if I thought I had an opportunity to do so.
I hate what Kim Davis is doing. I really do. But what I hate more than that is the reason most people seem to be disparaging what she is doing. The problem is NOT that Kim Davis is engaging in civil disobedience. The problem is the issue Kim Davis is engaging in civil disobedience with. Because I’ll be flat, dead honest with you – if the ruling came down 5-4 the other way, and a renegade County Clerk said, “Fuck that shit, I’m handing out marriage licenses to same-sex couples anyway,” I’ll tell you straight up – I’d give her a standing ovation.
I am all for civil disobedience if it is a serious issue and I disagree with the law. Which is why I try to focus my attacks on the fact that Kim Davis is morally wrong, not that she is breaking the law.
Because if I focus on the fact that she is breaking the law, and say, “The law trumps personal beliefs 100% of the time,” then there goes my defense of much of the Civil Rights movement that broke down segregation for me (as a black man) today.
And more than that – saying, “You should follow the law!” also gives conservatives the impression that they have license, via the law, to continue to discriminate (I mean, in most places in the United States, you can still legally fire someone or kick them out of your rental just for being lgbtq). The law is still pretty goddamn terrible when it comes to lgbtq rights.
And if a judge threw someone who fired someone else for being gay in jail – regardless of what the law said, I’d say that’s justice.
I have a lot more respect for justice than for the law. This is no small point for me.
The problem is not that Kim Davis broke the law, but what laws she broke.
The problem is that Kim Davis is not on the side of justice. The problem is that Kim Davis is following an antiquated book written by bigots. The problem is that same-sex marriage is beautiful and Kim Davis is totally wrong on this one. The problem is that the lgbtq community has been hurt, and continues to be hurt, far too much when it comes to this issue, and it’s time for it to end. The problem is that the laws still support discrimination against the lgbtq population in most areas of the United States.
I think it’s important to keep the heat on that point so that we don’t make a still-unjust law code any stronger and set in stone than it already is.
And that book Kim Davis supports – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – it needs to go. That the majority of this country follows a book that contains verses (like Leviticus 18:22) saying that homosexuals should be stoned to death is thoroughly shameful. Even if they don’t believe that applies now – the fact that they even think about worshipping a God who once commanded it does not speak highly of our culture.
It’s time to move on and quit that bullshit. The book needs to go.
Thanks for reading.