Out actor George Takei took to Facebook
to decry the hero's welcome Kentucky clerk Kim Davis received from
supporters after her release from jail.
Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan
County, was freed from jail on Tuesday after serving five days for
refusing to comply with a federal judge's ruling ordering her to
issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples. Davis, an
Apostolic Christian, has said that issuing marriage licenses to gay
and lesbian couples would be a violation of her conscience.
(Related: Kim
Davis won't say whether she'll abide by order in gay marriage
dispute.)
Takei, who is best known for playing
Lieutenant Sulu in the original Star Trek, called Davis'
release to a throng of supporters and two Republican presidential
candidates “a bit of a circus.”
“So let us be clear: This woman is no
hero to be celebrated. She broke her oath to uphold the Constitution
and defied a court order so she could deny government services to
couples who are legally entitled to be married,” Takei wrote.
“She is entitled to hold her
religious beliefs, but not to impose those beliefs on others. If she
had denied marriage certificates to an interracial couple, would
people cheer her? Would presidential candidates flock to her side?”
“In our society, we obey civil laws,
not religious ones. To suggest otherwise is, simply put, entirely
un-American,” he added.