The Kentucky I know and love

Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go. ~James Baldwin

I’ve always been proud to say I grew up in Kentucky. It is a beautiful state. Its people are kind and industrious with strong values. Yes, religion is a significant part of its make-up, but most of the citizens I’ve known are tolerant of others.

Here are some points that might surprise you: 

• Kentucky is not a red state – it’s actually purple. Contrary to what most Americans probably think, registered Democrats in Kentucky still outnumber registered Republicans. In Ohio County where I grew up, Democrats had 212 more registered voters than Republicans in 2014. 
•  Kentucky has fully implemented the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion – and has one of the best healthcare exchanges in the country.
•  In 2010, Lexington elected its first openly gay mayor.

I believe in Kentucky’s people and its beauty, but I also know that like any other state there are people who decide their personal values are above the law. This week a woman from the eastern part of the state has decided she knows more than our nation’s Supreme Court and her decision is reflecting badly on all parts of our state. 

As an elected official, she’s decided she doesn’t have to perform aspects of her job because it’s “against her religious principles.” Bullshit. She wasn’t elected to a public office to apply her personal values to the law and decide what she will or will not do. She was elected to apply the laws of the land. I agree with those who have called for her to be impeached. I don’t care if the Kentucky legislature has to convene in order to do that – it’s the right thing to do and they should be prompt in firing this woman.

I have no problem with her personal decision – it’s her right as a citizen to determine what she does or does not believe in, but if her personal, religious values get in the way of her doing the job to which she was elected, she has to go. Quit, be impeached, fired – I don’t really care, but she can’t stay and apply only those laws that fit within her religious beliefs.

Even more absurd to this entire situation is – according to NBC News – Kimberly Davis is being paid a salary of $80,000, a ridiculous amount that is almost double Kentucky’s average household income.  If she wants to keep this high-paying job that most Kentuckians would be thrilled to have, she can get her butt back to work and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples who have waited a lifetime for the ability to marry.

Daniel Boone once said: “Soon after, I returned home to my family, with a determination to bring them as soon as possible to live in Kentucky, which I esteemed a second paradise, at the risk of my life and fortune.”

Please don’t let this woman cause you to place an unfair label on a beautiful state and its people.