Just Do Your Job

So this woman has been all over the news.  I'm sure you've seen the stories.  She is a County Clerk in Kentucky and due to her religious beliefs, she is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  This is after the Supreme Court has ruled on the legality of gay marriage.  It's the law of the land!  And yet she refuses.  So what's the big deal you may ask.  Just fire her.  But not so easy. She is an elected official and can only be impeached.  Nice job protection.  There has also been a lot of dirt dredged up on her about her four marriages and children out of wedlock.  It"s pretty unsavory.

But here's the thing for me.  On the one hand, I'm a rule of law kind of guy.  Like I said, the issue is settled law.  She should comply or quit.  Pretty simple.  That she is not quitting tells me she has an ulterior motive.  Could it be a payoff?  Book deal?  Oprah?  Who knows.

On the other hand there is this thing called religious freedom.  At some point we're going to have to address the balancing act that will ultimately be required.  In this case, this is a governmental official so I think she doesn't have a leg to stand on.  But what about the infamous case of the baker?  A gay couple wants a cake and the baker objects to participating in the event on religious grounds.  What then?  What if the baker is Muslim.  Is there a difference?  Why would a gay couple want someone who objects to their union to participate in the ceremony?  Why wouldn't they just go somewhere else?  If a baker (or florist, or musician, or bartender, or etc, etc, etc) refuses then should they be driven out of business?  Because that's what will happen.  And these are generally small businesses.  Is that the consequences we want?  And where is the balance, the tipping point?  I'm sympathetic to both sides.  I hope we don't see too many cases like this.  But if we do, I think I'm likely to come down on the side of the baker.