Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), believes Kim
Davis may have sparked a wave of anti-gay resistance.
“I can tell you that Kim Davis isn't
a martyr – she's a hero,” Perkins said in a statement released
shortly after Davis was released from jail.
Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan
County, Kentucky, spent five days in jail after a federal judge found
her in contempt for refusing to comply with his ruling ordering her
to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples. Davis has said
that issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couple would
violate her conscience.
(Related: Kim
Davis won't say whether she'll abide by order in gay marriage
dispute.)
“What the Left is almost certainly
afraid of is what is coming to pass: courage is breeding courage,”
added Perkins, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights. “And months from
now, we may all look back and realize that she was the example that
sparked a blaze of resistance across this country. When other people
might have cowered in fear, Kim took a stand. And today, she is
surrounded by hundreds of Americans who stand with her. Do you
really think William Bradford and the Pilgrims were just trying to
move their church membership? Weren’t there churches a little
closer that that would not have resulted in nearly half of them dying
that first winter in Plymouth? They came for what Kim Davis is
standing for. They came for the ability to live their lives
according to their Christian faith. And now it’s time for the
government of this country to step back and let us.”