Kim Davis is spending a fourth day in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses in defiance of the Supreme Court, but she just gained herself an unlikely supporter: Christopher Ciccone. The brother of Madonna, who is openly gay and takes part in LGBTQ activism, has come to the Kentucky clerk’s support saying that her freedoms are just as important as anyone else’s freedoms.
In a post on Facebook, Ciccone makes some interesting, thought-provoking points.
Does Ciccone have a point when he says that other government officials make their own exceptions when they feel that the law is wrong? About a decade ago when mayors started performing illegal same-sex marriages as a form of civil disobedience, they weren’t held in contempt of court. They weren’t even brought to court. And they were civil servants just like Kim Davis, beholden to the U.S. Constitution.
But is Ciccone making a valid point when he says “the gay community feels the need to be sore winners” or is he going too far? Is it really being a “sore winner” when all that was achieved was gaining equal rights? “Winning” generally means coming out on top, and surpassing someone or something else to prove some level of exceptionalism. The gay community should have never had to fight for their right to marry — it was in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights all along, under the Equal Protection clause in the 14th Amendment. While mayors like Gavin Newsom and Jason West were defying federal law to give their tax-paying constituents equal rights, Kim Davis was trying to take those rights away from people. And one person’s religious freedom shouldn’t be valued more than an entire population’s equal rights.
Religious freedom is guaranteed by the First Amendment, and it shouldn’t be denied because that would be illegal, but using your religious freedom to take rights away from people when you’re in a position of power is an abuse of power and religion. If Kim Davis wants to practice her religion freely, she can work for someplace other than the government.
So, this doesn’t work, Mr. Ciccone. But that was very chivalrous of you.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
