By Kristy Puchko | Politics | September 30, 2015 |
By Kristy Puchko | Politics | September 30, 2015 |
The Kentucky clerk who believes her personal beliefs are more important the marriage equality decree issued by the Supreme Court has reportedly had a super secret meeting with Pope Francis while he was in Washington D.C. And did this pope—who has preached for wage equality, environmental conservation and an era of inclusion unlike any of his predecessors have dared—tell Kim Davis to do her job or resign? That Jesus said “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”? Nope.
According to Davis’s lawyer, he said, “Stay strong.”
So we can safely assume Davis will continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses, and fuck with their forms in hopes of invalidating them. And maybe she’ll get fined or go to jail again, but she won’t lose her job unless her constituents move to boot her.
But hey, maybe Davis and her lawyer are full of shit and she didn’t really meet the pope, while she was in D.C. accepting an award from the The Family Research Council, a group that previously praised the traditional family values of Josh Duggar. Well, Davis fans are insisting the pope’s comments about conscientious objection show his clear support of her bigotry beliefs bigotry.
NBC News reports the pope was asked: “Do you … support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example when issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples?”
He replied:
“I can’t have in mind all the cases that can exist about conscientious objection … but yes, I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right.”
For the record, a conscientious objector is someone who refuses to perform a task (usually military service) because it conflicts with their belief. So Davis refusing to issue marriage licenses could be considered a conscientious objection. But her purposely altering those forms to potentially invalidating them is something else. It’s sneaky and sinister sabotage that could have a serious impact on the lives of the people she has been elected to serve, regardless of whether they are gay or straight.
Like the song goes, “she is the very model of a modern fundamentalist.”
Kristy Puchko’s favorite pope is Dom DeLuise.