Common decency had it: Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis shouldn't be able to refuse to give LGBT couples marriage licenses while holding a government job that involves issuing marriage licenses. And while a host of Republican politicians and other Davis supporters have been shouting about how making Davis do her job or let someone else do it is a terrible violation of her religious liberty, a strong majority of Americans are on the side of common decency and basic equality.
According to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, 63 percent of Americans think Davis should be required to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Not only that, but:
Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed say it is more important to treat everyone equally than to accommodate someone’s religious beliefs when the two principles conflict. That view held sway across a broad range of Americans, including majorities of self-identified Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives.
Moreover, nearly half of those surveyed — 45 percent — supported the decision by a federal judge to send Davis to jail for not complying with his order to issue the licenses. An additional 16 percent say Davis should be forced to issue the licenses but opposed jail time.
Republicans are trying to make "religious freedom" the new legal grounds for discrimination, arguing that Kim Davis' right to both hold a government job issuing marriage licenses and discriminate on religious grounds is more important than the right of LGBT couples to marry without facing discrimination from the government. There's a simple answer to religious freedom concerns, of course: Davis has to choose between her government job and her desire to discriminate. That doesn't violate religious freedom any more than backing the right of a church to fire a minister who has lost their faith and wants to preach about that every Sunday.
But Republican politicians like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are making this their crusade. It's just one more important issue on which Republican officials sharply disagree with the majority of Americans.