There is a diary on the rec list right now that starts with this paragraph:
I have compassion for Kim Davis and the position she found herself in. When she took the job as County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, as she understood the world, two people of the same sex didn't marry each other, any more than brother and sister would.
I beg to differ.
She took the job in January of 2015.
When she took the job as County Clerk of Rowan County Kentucky, two people of the same sex were already marrying each other in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
When she took the job as County Clerk of Rowan County Kentucky, the entire conservative world was aflame because of wondering whether the Supreme Court would agree to hear Obergefell v Hodges.
When she took the job as County Clerk of Rowan County Kentucky, the entire conservative world was afraid that the Supreme Court would do for gay couples in 2015 what it did for interracial couples in 1967.
Even people living in a complete RWNJ bubble were aware in January 2015 of the rapidly changing legal status of marriage equality.
Their preachers preached against it. Their hateradio show hosts ranted against it. Fakes News reported on it.
So I do not believe she "found herself" in this position.
I believe she deliberately ran for this office and took this job so that, if same sex marriage was legalized in Kentucky, she could gain notoriety and be a conservative heroine by "standing in the schoolhouse door".
That is one of many reasons why it is difficult for me to have any compassion for her.
I believe she set this up intentionally and sought after, perhaps even prayed for, an opportunity for civil disobedience that would make her a household name in the conservative Christian world.
Well, now she has her martyrdom. Let's see what she does with it.
Fri Sep 04, 2015 at 11:44 PM PT: The original version of the diary said the oral argument in Obergefell had happened in 2014, but the oral argument was not until April (an embarrassing mistake I might not have made if it were not the middle of the night). However I stand by my assertion that even the most sheltered people in the conservative world knew the case was being appealed to the Supreme Court and there was a possibility the law would be changed this year.