Kim Davis says anti-marriage equality stance was never ‘a gay or lesbian issue’
By Ben Kelly
She was one of the most controversial figures of 2015, after refusing to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples in Kentucky; in an episode which saw her temporarily jailed, and eventually meeting with the Pope. But it seems county clerk Kim Davis isn’t done fighting for her cause of traditional marriage just yet.
Invited by Republican Jim Jordan to sit in the gallery during President Obama’s final State of the Union address this week, Davis later gave an interview to Catholic news station EWTN, in which she defended her actions once again, when asked what she disliked about the speech.
“[Obama] had made the statement that everybody was free to marry who they love, and of course that’s the statement that I stood against, and it was not, for me… It never was a gay or lesbian issue: It was about standing up for the word of God. God had defined marriage from the very beginning as being between one man and one woman, and that’s what I stood for.”
President Obama had included advances in gay rights, including the historic SCOTUS ruling on marriage equality nationwide, as some of his greatest achievements in office. In praising the “sturdy citizenship” of Americans, he described the various places he sees it in action, noting, “It’s the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything he’s been taught.”
David was visibly seen to not applaud the president throughout his remarks. Her presence was symbolic for many anti-gay rights groups and Christians, who felt she represented Americans who do not support the president’s values.
Asked in the same interview how she felt about the section of the president’s speech in which he asked for tolerance towards the Muslim community, Davis said: “One of the things that he focused on was that we should not discriminate against Muslims or persecute them, but he never once said anything about the people of the Christian faith who are being so tried and tested, and being mashed down, literally, with his agenda.”
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