Readers React: If Kim Davis doesn’t want to certify same-sex marriages, she should quit her job

To the editor: Why do the religious beliefs of Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who refuses to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples, take precedence over others’ lives and beliefs, causing so much distress, inconvenience and time and expense in court? The solution is absurdly simple. (“Kentucky clerk defies Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and could be held in contempt,” Sept. 1)

Yes, Davis has a right to her personal religious beliefs and to practice them. She does not have the right to inflict these beliefs on others. We have a right to freedom too.

Her job requires following rules and regulations set up by the state and federal governments. Her religion doesn’t make her exempt from the laws because she doesn’t agree with them. (If my religion says bigamy’s OK, can I do it? No.) She’s getting paid to work. Nobody’s making her stay against her will.

If the laws and duties that pertain to Davis’ job are abhorrent to her, she has the same personal freedom as the rest of us: to go find another job that doesn’t interfere with her beliefs, or ours.

Phyllis Woods, North Hollywood

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To the editor: Much has been made about how the recalcitrant Davis cannot, as an elected official, be fired. I’d love to know how long she’d keep her job if she refused to issue gun licenses “under God’s authority” or refused to issue hunting or fishing licenses because God told her to go vegan.

What will probably happen is she’ll be jailed for contempt of court and proclaimed a martyr by fundamentalist Christians, who will get her the best legal representation God’s money can buy. She might get a cushy book or TV deal and live out her days in well-heeled retirement.

Kevin Dawson, Los Angeles

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