Gay Marriage Is Not Going Anywhere. Sorry, Kim Davis.

Marriage is a human right... right? It is a spiritually and functionally integral part of Western society that, if an individual so chooses, should be able to be exercised. Those kinds of inherent individual rights that should not be abridged by an overreaching government—nothing screams American quite the same. Yet many people over the past decade are having a bit of trouble understanding that human rights includes... humans. And yes, that means gay people. Welcome to the Wild West, Kim Davis.

According to Pew Research Center, 63% of Americans support gay marriage, with 61% saying it is even good for society. Even Hillary Clinton, scandals and shortcomings aside, understood the idea of marriage equality and captured it beautifully: “Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human."

You know, America, freedom, Viva La Revolution, individual rights, independence, the unbeatable American spirit that won’t let tradition bind us to anything less than what we deserve…Oh, wait. Unless it's… gay?

To support something morally or legally is a nuance that is incredibly relevant to the American tradition of unenumerated rights. For example, the number of Americans who support the right to abortion is around the same, sitting at 63% in 2024 (Pew Research Center). Yet 52% still believe that it is immoral in some cases. This shows that you don’t have to agree with principle to respect independence.

Kim Davis is the infamous Kentucky clerk who denied marriage licenses to gay couples after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 (yes, we have had gay marriage for only ten years, guys.) She asked the court to revisit the ruling in hopes of finding legal justification for her actions and repealing the fines.

The court denied the request, even though three of the justices were dissenters in Obergefell. My interpretation of this behavior is that after the controversial Dobbs ruling overturning Roe, they want to pump the brakes on their conservative judicial activism. Even Amy Coney Barrett won’t hear Davis’s case. I know, right?

And even if they did, God bless principalism, the right to marriage for LGBTQ+ citizens is constitutional, and that will hold up to the scrutiny of a court “sworn” to protect our Constitution and what it stands for. Not the Bible and what it stands for. That's a violation of separation of church and state, Kim.

And once again, not everyone has to be gay now. The government isn’t forcing anyone to be gay. All it is saying is gay people having the same rights as other people, which was established under the equality protections of the 14th Amendment.

Do you know why we have laws and amendments? For our government to uphold them! The beautiful thing about a republic is that the government and its officials are not above the law and cannot violate the rights of people that are protected under law. Davis was legally obligated to comply with the federal law legalizing same-sex marriage and refused to obey the law in her position as a government official.

Davis’s request of the court to review the case in response to the hefty amount of fines she was charged for refusing to give marriage licenses to gay couples in Kentucky is entitled and unrealistic. She was penalized for… not doing her job…? It's crazy, really.

If a government official denied the exercising of a right to any other minority, it would be Reconstruction-era Jim Crow. If a government official’s beliefs won’t let Black voters access the polls, they can choose another job that isn’t dependent on civic duty to the people. Because it's the federal law that you have to follow. Davis is aggressing our legal system because she was punished for not complying with the law, otherwise known as doing something illegal. And unconstitutional. Wow!

Courts have consistently held that religion isn't an excuse for officials to neglect constitutional rights. If our federal government declares that the specific right of an individual is to be protected, then some random senator or police chief cannot decide that they personally disagree with the rule and will refuse to uphold it. The Supremacy Clause in the Constitution was implemented to prevent such internal dissent.

Gay people getting married hurts no one! You do not have to be gay! You do not have to marry a gay person! You can have your heterosexual marriages. This isn’t a pie, and we aren’t taking part of your slice. Keep your opinions out of human rights.

Don't tread on me, Kim Davis.