Lo and Behold: Kim Davis Does Have a Gay Friend ... Who Isn't So Happy With Her

One of the phrases I love most is the racist who says, “Some of my best friends are black,” as a way to justify, or hide, being a bigoted asshat. Or, the person, like say, oh, I dunno, let’s say, Kim Davis, who went to hail and kissed up to lunatic like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz because she doesn’t think gay men and women should be allowed to get married — even though it’s the law — and says, “Some of my best friends are gay and they understand what I’m doing.”

Well, it turns out she’s right; Kim Davis does have gay friends, er, a gay friend, execpt he doesn't understand why she's doing what she's doing.

Dallas Black says he’s known Davis for years and even respects her personal opinion, but she’s an embarrassment to what he says is a progressive, LGBT-friendly town of Morehead, Kentucky.

Black, who is a distant cousin to Kim Davis’ first of three husbands, says he and the clerk became close after she helped him with paperwork after his mother died. While he said Davis wasn’t someone he “would get lunch with” he did consider her a friend, though now he doesn’t even recognize her.

“I really don’t know who Kim is at the moment. I really want to believe that the kind, sweet person who was there when my mom passed away is still there. I was friends with Kim in the past, but I don’t know this woman I’ve been seeing.”

And he says the change came when Kim Davis became a born again, holier than thou Christian four years ago, after three husbands, one adulterous affair that produced two children, and four marriages. But he does respect her opinion, and her right to that opinion, though he’s most annoyed that the “media fiasco” she created is turning Morehead into a backwoods” laughingstock.

“Kim Davis has become the face of Morehead, and that’s not the face we want to portray.”

Morehead is one of the most progressive college towns in Kentucky — which is saying something, yet not saying much because it is Kentucky, not exactly known for being so progressive. But, back in 2013, the Morehead city council unanimously passed an LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, making it just the sixth city in Kentucky to do so. And with its vibrant arts scene, influx of college students, and coffee shops, Dallas Black says many LGBT Kentuckians to make it their home.

“This is kind of like a sanctuary for people who came to [Morehead State University]. They live here now, they’ve made it their home because it’s so progressive. And now it’s like, what is this place we live in? This is not the home we know. We don’t feel safe now. That’s ultimately what [Kim Davis] did. She made us feel like our home was invaded by strangers, and she made us strangers to it.”

And it’s changed a lot since Dallas Black came out in 2002. In those days, he felt the backlash for being openly gay, but today this is the same town where the local printing shop makes and sells t-shirts that say:

“Small town does not mean small-minded.”

For Dallas Black, that means he would offer support to Kim Davis if she ever came to him for help, but he wants it known that she will not be on his wedding list; that’s reserved for close friends and family and people who support same-sex marriage and the law.

But the best part of this story, for me, is that Kim Davis gay ‘friend’ I speaking out, and talking about how great their hometown is, and how progressive. And one can only hope that if Kim Davis doesn’t resign and just fade away, that the good people of Morehead, and Rowan County, will vote her out of office the very first chance they get.

That’s what friends are for.

The Daily Beast
Photo credit: Dallas Black