Sunday, September 27, 2015

Hate Group Summit Honors Kim Davis as a Heroine

Over the weekend the hate group sponsored "Values Voter Summit" took place in Washington, D.C., and as usually provided an overdose of batshitery.  As an added example of the anti-gay animus of  the sponsoring groups - Family Research Council is the principle organizer - the ridiculously named
“Cost of Discipleship” award was given to four times married, serial adulterer Kim Davis, the anti-gay Rowan County, Kentucky clerk of court.  Sadly, many would be GOP presidential nominees attended the gather of haters to prostitute themselves in the hope of garnering votes from the deranged and spittle flecked attendees. The Washington Blade looks at the disgusting spectacle.  Here are highlights:
Upon taking the stage at the Values Voter Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in D.C., Davis was handed a bouquet of flowers and wiped tears from her face as she took to the podium to applause.

“I feel so very undeserving,” she said. “I want to start by thanking my lord and savior, Jesus Christ, because without him this would have never been possible, for he is my strength that carried me.”
Raising her arms in the air, Davis shouted, “I am only one, but we are many!”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, compared Davis to civil rights leaders Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., in remarks prior to giving Davis an award and urged others to follow the example of the Kentucky clerk.

“It is time that Christians in American began to stand for their faith,” Perkins said. “Kim Davis should not be an outlier. Kim Davis should not be something that surprises America.”

Mat Staver, chair of the Liberty Council, which is defending Davis in court, dismissed the contention Davis is unsuited for being honored for defending marriage because she’s been married four times, noting her conversion to Christianity four-and-a-half years ago.

Stephen Peters, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said the decision by the Family Research Council to recognize Davis with an award isn’t surprising.

“What is actually shocking is the number of Republican candidates who, in 2015, are prepared to attend a conference sponsored by an anti-LGBT organization and applaud someone for depriving same-sex couples of their Constitutional rights,” Peters said. “We are going to make sure that the overwhelming majority of pro-equality voters in this country don’t forget that.”

Davis wasn’t the only person at the summit honored for engaging in anti-LGBT discrimination. Prior to her award presentation, the twin brothers David and Jason Benham, baseball players-turned conservative activists, moderated a panel featuring seven individuals who faced consequences for engaging in anti-LGBT bias.

Those individuals were Casey County Clerk Casey Davis from Kentucky, fired Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, Air Force Sgt. Philip Monk, Baronelle Stutzman from Washington State, Richard and Betty Odagaard of Iowa as well as Melissa and Aaron Klein of “Sweetcakes by Melissa” in Oregon.

If there is an upside, the event helps underscore the reality that the message of conservative Christians is one of hatred of others - not to mention hypocrisy.

No comments: