As I’ve mentioned before, conservative activists, while they may be sincere, are also in it for the money. Anti-gay lawyer Mat Staver is undoubtedly sincere in his loathing for LGBTQ rights but he has no qualms lying about gays and asking for money to fight them. Or spouting bullshit about the horrible effects of covid vaccines — send him money to fight vaccine mandates!
The same thing applies to Staver’s announcement his Liberty Counsel organization is taking anti-gay bureaucrat Kim Davis’ case to the Supreme Court. Davis, you may remember, was a Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for gay couples. She also refused to let anyone in her office do it on the grounds she’d have to sign it so she was still guilty of approving what she considered sinful behavior. Later she switched to denying all marriage licenses so she couldn’t be accused of discrimination.
Lawsuits followed. Davis lost. Now Staver’s appealing to the Supreme Court and throwing in a call to overturn Obergefell and end the right to gay marriage.
I have no sympathy for Davis. She gets paid, in part, out of gay citizens’ taxes; telling them she refuses to provide service isn’t acceptable. Plus the idea she’d have been personally “approving” the marriages is nonsense. All a county clerk does is certify that the marriage meets the legal requirements. It doesn’t constitute approval. Maybe the county clerk who signed my marriage license didn’t approve of me marrying someone 15 years younger or didn’t approve of me not having a religious wedding. Signing the license didn’t force them to compromise, it only established that I met the legal requirements. Davis has been married four times. I suspect she’d freak out if anyone denied her a marriage license on the grounds they didn’t approve of divorce.
For Staver, however, this is a win-win. I don’t know what the odds of overturning Obergefell or even reversing Davis’ legal defeat are but I’m sure some of the judges would be up for both. And if it doesn’t he gets publicity and oh, yes, money. Click through my link above and he’s asking for donations. Fighting gay marriage has been a cash cow for right-wingers for years.
In other religious notes:
House Speaker Mike Johnson talks a lot about having a Biblical worldview. His worldview does not include judging other people —oh, wait, he does that, he just refuses to judge Trump. Christian right-winger Rick Green talks about how Biden is unworthy, Biblically speaking — but everything Green says describes Trump.
Pope Francis reaches out to trans sex workers. Conservative Protestants shit themselves. Coincidentally, Fred Clark contemplates the bafflement of some right-wing Christians at why they’re considered the bad guys.
Wonder what a Christian nationalist America would look like? Well for starters, some advocates say Muslims can’t be Americans. And they continue lying about how Muslims are taking us over and imposing sharia law. It wouldn’t be too good for people with mental illness as some right-wing Christian leaders claim mental illness doesn’t exist. And if people are poor, it’s because God doesn’t love them as much as the rich. And gays and atheists don’t have the right to disagree with Christians.
