It's getting more expensive to be so full of beans these days.
While homophobic folk heroes like Kim Davis are aggrandizing themselves in their perfect religious bubbles, the states that spent past years fighting to uphold discriminatory practices are getting the
lawyers' bills now.
States that defended same-sex marriage bans — most did, to some extent — are now being asked to pay the legal fees for those litigants under a 40-year-old federal law that says the court “in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party … a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.”
Or as Michigan attorney Dana Nessel put it: “It’s the price governments pay for defending bigotry.”
It turns out bigotry is really expensive. Expensive enough that while some states are still wondering what they are going to do about paying these bills, others have already settled their tab.
Michigan is weighing its response to a $1.9 million demand from attorneys for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, plaintiffs in one of the four cases that went to the Supreme Court and was decided in June. In Kentucky, another state involved in the Supreme Court showdown, the bill for services rendered is $2.1 million. South Carolina has been ordered to pay $130,000, and Florida’s attorney general is fighting a tab of about $700,000.
Several states have struck agreements already. Pennsylvania settled for $1.5 million, Wisconsin for $1.05 million, Virginia for $580,000, Oregon for $132,000, Colorado for $90,000, Utah for $95,000 and North Dakota for $58,000. The varying prices reflect the length of the battles or their intensity.
Something to consider: the primary reason for these homophobic affronts to civil rights is religion. Most of the rhetoric comes from different groups' readings (and translations) of the Bible. Lots of money to promote this bigotry is collected by
religious organizations. You know who doesn't have to pay taxes and therefore isn't at the table when the check comes?
There's a lot more discussion on the costs of bigotry over here.