Republican presidential candidate Rick
Santorum last week compared Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to civil rights
leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
During a radio appearance on New York's
AM970 The Answer, Santorum, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, said
that he was proud of Davis, the elected clerk of Rowan County who
served five days in jail for refusing to comply with a judge's ruling
ordering her to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples.
Davis, Santorum said, was following the
“long precedent” of people who ignored laws they found to be
unjust.
“This is one of the reasons, as soon
as the Supreme Court decision came down, the first thing I said is we
have to begin, because this assault on people of faith is gonna
happen,” Santorum
said. “And we have to protect people from the idea that you
can't have an accommodation for people who have very strong religious
beliefs that are antithetical to the 'new law' of the country.”
“You know Martin Luther King went to
jail because he didn't follow the law. There's a long precedent in
America from people saying, 'You know, the law has to change to
accommodate what is the right thing to do, in their own moral
judgment.'”
“I can tell you I'm very proud of the
fact that she stood up for those convictions and she should stood up
for what I believe and I think most people who are commenting on this
who agree with my position – is an abuse by the Supreme Court of
their power,” he added.