Kim Davis has been making headlines lately, if you haven’t heard of her, she has become quite notorious, and for this edition’s Over the Rainbow column I’m going to tell you a little bit about her. Kim Davis is a Kentucky county clerk who riled up many religious and conservative groups by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The reason for her refusal is because she states it is against her religion. She even spent a few days in jail because she refused to abide by a new law that has made many Americans happy, myself included. Her defiance sparked fierce debate over whether she should be fired, or allowed to keep her job. Even major religious groups are standing behind her, claiming that people should fight the Supreme Court and stand up for their religious freedoms. What is really irksome is that she is becoming a sort of heroine for this cause, and is using her faith to justify her position against the law. She believes God granted her the authority to refuse same-sex couples their right to marry—as if God somehow spoke to her and bestowed this religious fever upon her. I remember being a Catholic myself once. As a Catholic, I was taught that God doesn’t interfere in the lives of men, nor grant authority, because we will give ourselves the authority to do hurtful things. “Free will” is what it was called, and although the Bible is meant to guide, we can choose what to commit to heart and what to change. But I digress, because citing religious bible scripture is no longer my forte, and I chose not to commit any of it to memory. Unfortunately, because her position is an elected one, Kim Davis can’t be fired, but I wonder to myself where the separation between government and religion begins. Davis is working for the government, so she should carry out her job without letting her personal beliefs interfere. Yet many conservative organizations encourage this disobedience of the law and are making Davis their poster child for religious freedom. What is saddening is that Davis, as ABC news put it, “Fails to acknowledge the dignity of other human beings,” and in doing so has caused great controversy. Unfortunately, as long as the LGBTQ+ community continues to be considered a threat to religious freedom, we will always be the target of derision and injustice. But we will never stop fighting for what is our inherent right as humans, and as Americans. There is a long and winding road to freedom for the LGBTQ+ community, but we must remember that we won the right to marry and the right to be recognized as people in our culture. Nothing worth doing is easy, and when the day comes that I can truly be a citizen of the United States, I will wave two flags; one is my stars and stripes, and the other my rainbow.document.currentScript.parentNode.insertBefore(s, document.currentScript);