The Kim Davis controversy is, by this point in time, already well known to anyone with even a slight grasp on current events. The way people choose to analyze this fiasco, however, and by extension any similar ones that take place in the future, remains hugely relevant and important. Because this issue is centered on a lot of discussion about peoples’ rights, the Civil Rights Movement is inevitably brought up to draw comparisons. Many on the side of Kim Davis, including presidential candidate Rick Santorum, see fit to compare her with Martin Luther King Jr., a famous leader of the civil rights movement, portraying her as a champion of religious freedom.
Others, however, (and I must forwardly admit my bias here by agreeing with them), see it more fit to compare her to George Wallace, the Alabama governor who stood in front of a public school with the national guard at his side to prevent it from being integrated, even after the Supreme Court had ruled racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional.
Homophobes believe Kim Davis is defending their freedom the same way that racists during the civil rights era believed George Wallace was defending theirs. In fact, let's take a famous George Wallace speech about segregation and rewrite it in a way Kim Davis supporters may find relevant.
"I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say religious discrimination now, religious discrimination tomorrow, religious discrimination forever!"
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Equal treatment under the law is tyranny, and oppressing a group of people is freedom. Makes perfect sense to me! Now, let’s try it with one of MLK’s speeches.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the content of their character, but by whether or not they’re gay.”
Yeah, no, that doesn’t quite sound like the type of thing that King would have said or agreed with.
The movement for racial equality and the movement for sexual and gender equality are compared frequently. Comparing the experiences of homophobia and racism, as the above absurd examples demonstrate, isn't something I do or support because the two problems are very different and complex, each affecting people's lives in very different and complex ways. As well, the comparisons seem to imply that homophobia is the modern day issue and that racism is an issue of the past, which simply isn't true; racism is unfortunately still alive and well.
Comparing the proponents of homophobia and racism, however, I do very enthusiastically, because their arguments are equally flimsy and poorly constructed, and are so easily interchangeable. Both arguments are based in some vague idea of freedom and a fear of an oppressed group of people rising up and somehow stealing rights away from the majority group. Both homophobes and racists have unjustly controlled and influenced the government, having convinced themselves that they have every right to do so, and when a system of actual justice and equality is implemented in lieu of one that caters to their personal agenda, they believe they are the ones being oppressed, oblivious to the reality that they have in fact been the oppressors. Most significantly, neither of them fully understands what the Supreme Court is or how it works, and it’s here that Kim Davis and George Wallace get along famously.
Government is a system that belongs to all people. It should reflect all of our needs as fairly and evenly as possible, and though there will always be disagreements over finer details of how to do this, one thing we should all be able to plainly agree on is that the United States government, and by extension any and all government officials and employees, should never be able to discriminate against or withhold rights from any of its citizens, who should all be valued and treated fairly under the law.
Anyone who tries to manipulate government with a bigoted, dogmatic and discriminatory agenda, regardless of its justification or intent, is no friend of Martin Luther King Jr. Such detractors from freedom are no friend of the civil rights movement and no friend of secular democracy.
By no means, however, does this mean they’ll be alone in their plight. No matter what, these hateful people will always be in the good, friendly, wholesome company of racial segregationist George Wallace.
