Kim Davis is No Jack Kennedy
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 11:32:40 PM EST
Kim Davis, the embattled Kentucky county clerk who sits in jail for defying a Federal Court order to issue marriage licenses to everyone who is eligible -- including LGBTQ people -- has been called many things.  She has been compared to leaders of the Civil Rights movement and to a Jew living in Nazi Germany for her stand.  Critics have answered that she is not the victim but the oppressor in these and similar analogies. And that may be so.

But one person she has not been compared to is John. F. Kennedy -- and with good reason.  Kennedy's situation as a Catholic elected official, and his views on religious conscience and the role of elected officials is actually the more apt comparison.  But Davis and her supporters would not dare to go there, because Jack Kennedy would have no sympathy for her situation, as he made clear in a landmark speech to the  Greater Houston Ministerial Association during the 1960 election.  

As a Catholic with a serious shot at becoming president, he sought to assure wary Southern protestants that he would be the president of all of the people. That he was the Democratic candidate for president who happened to be Catholic, and not the Catholic candidate for president.  For some, this may have been seen as a distinction without a difference, but it meant a great deal to Kennedy and to others facing varying degrees of discrimination or oppression.  The speech became the standard by which pols of all stripes have measured their religious views against their public obligations -- until the Christian Right began its assault on the wall of separation between church and state that Kennedy thought was essential.  The Kim Davis debacle epitomizes the situation Kennedy hoped our society would want to avoid.

In part because that's so, the speech is almost as refreshing and true today as it was in 1960.  Kennedy made clear that if, in the unlikely event that his moral conscience conflicted with his duties as President, he would resign. And he hoped "any conscientious public servant would do the same."

"Whatever issue may come before me as President--on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject--I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise."

"But if the time should ever come--and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible--when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same."

But Kim Davis is not a conscientious objector so much as a public official abusing her office to grandstand her idiosyncratic views of God's Law over now well established federal civil rights law.  (She has little chance of legal success.)  We have seen this kind of thing before, and in fact, these kinds of issues come up all the time.  Anyone who aspires to basic political competence, let alone leadership, needs to be able to deal with them effectively.  Just ask John F. Kennedy.

But for today, as we watch the tabloid spectacle of Kim Davis dominate the news -- until it doesn't -- let's remind ourselves that not only is Kim Davis in no way analogous to the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement -- she is also no Jack Kennedy.




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Kim Davis is no martyr. Not religiously or Constitutionally or any other way. She wasn't even following her own religion. No where does it admonish the believer to "not accommodate or deal with homosexual type people". Just to not do what they do male or female.

This is such a crock and we see it being advertised as yet another Christian martyr for their cause. They won't even dare analyze her theology and call her down on her lack of following it.

by Nightgaunt on Sat Sep 12, 2015 at 04:20:49 PM EST


In 2015, Kim Davis was the county clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky who gained national attention when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Davis was subsequently jailed for contempt of court.  online diamond shopping Comparing Davis to JFK is ridiculous. First of all, JFK was a president and Davis is a county clerk. Secondly, JFK fought for civil rights while Davis is against them. Third, JFK was a war hero while Davis has never served in the military. Finally, JFK was assassinated while Davis is still alive. Simply put, the two are not comparable.

by isabelladom on Wed Dec 07, 2022 at 01:42:23 AM EST


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