Hundreds of people cheered the husband of Kentucky clerk Kim Davis during a rally of Christian conservatives Thursday outside the Tennessee Capitol.
The celebration of Constitution Day was sponsored by the Tennessee Pastors Network and also drew Rafael Cruz, a pastor and the father of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican and presidential candidate.
Speaking of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision effectively legalizing same-sex marriage, Cruz said, “The devil overplayed his hand.”
He said the country needs to elect a constitutional conservative as president, and suggested that Christian conservatives will be roused to action by the ruling.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“We’ve been silent too long,” he said.
“Religious persecution ends in January 2017,” he said.
Cruz acknowledged Joe Davis, husband of the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk who was jailed for five days after defying a federal judge’s order to process same-sex marriage licenses.
“What we saw in Kentucky with Kim Davis is tyranny,” Cruz said, to cheers and applause.
Speaking briefly after Cruz, Joe Davis simply asked the crowd to pray for him and his wife.
About 40 Tennessee legislators appeared at the rally. State Sen. Mae Beavers and state Rep. Mark Pody drew cheers for their legislation calling for Tennessee to defend the state constitution, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. It was unclear how they planned to override the Supreme Court’s decision.
Also speaking at the rally was Richard Land, who led the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm for 25 years before leaving to serve as president of Southern Evangelical Seminary.
Like Cruz, he predicted the Supreme Court’s ruling will lead to a backlash.
Speaking to reporters, Land suggested the next president could appoint conservative Supreme Court justices who would overturn that ruling.
“The good news for America is that Supreme Court decisions are never final,” he said.
H/t: LGBTQ Nation
Noah Ayyash
What a surprise… Its a bunch of old white people
Jayson A Messner
Brian JC Kneeland
They don’t know persecution until they are being thrown to the lions – beheaded, etc. Until them it is a whiny call that they don’t like something!
Stefano
Why is it always religious people (or most of the time) who are against gay people? LOL
Xzamilio
But, let some of these religious morons on this board tell it, WE atheists are the intolerant ones. A bunch or religious lunatics rallying to do what they do best: Whining about being persecuted because they aren’t able to persecute others.
Jerry Kelley
Dixie is still a frightening place in this country
onthemark
See? There are very practical reasons for not letting the lions go extinct!
So many Christians, not enough lions.
Terry Berger
Booooooo Hiiiiisssssssssssssss
Tattyfatty
Wait a minute guys, lets be fair, not all of us religious people are anti gay, just ask my last boyfriend. Anyway, saw something in this article I wanted to address. Rafael Cruz stated “What we saw in Kentucky with Kim Davis is tyranny” To be totally honest, I could not agree MORE, and I really think Kim Davis should resign for being such a tyrant.
Stefano
@Tattyfatty: you are not anti-gay because you are gay and Christian? but i’m pretty sure that if you were not gay it will be very différent.
Joseph Cronin
christians are the most privileged class in this country…GET OVER YOURSELF and stop being a horrible human being
Mark Pointon
These people have no idea how fucking stupid they look, and are making Americans look even more stupid.
Ladbrook
Religious Liberty = the new Jim Crow. Anyone who says otherwise is lying and is part of the problem.
I said this to my brother a few months ago, and his wife hasn’t spoken to me since… LOL. Her loss!
Victor Barry
Old, fat, white and probably on disability. Everything wrong with America.
Tattyfatty
@Stefano: I am 50 yrs old, and had a very hard time accepting myself, and only recently have learned to accept and truely appreciate the fact that I am gay. Although I have never really had any gay friends, just didnt really know any people who were out in the small town where i live, I have relatives that I have known were gay since i was young, and have ALWAYS been supportive of them. My big issue in acceoting myself had nothing to do with my religion, it had to do with seeing how poorly gay people are treated on a regular basis, and being a very tall and unfortunatly heavy person, I didnt want to deal with more more thing to get harrased about, BUT I have come to realize, I cant let other narrow minded people dictate how I live my life, or with who. While there are a lot of bad christians out there, there are also many decent ones, and it deeply saddens me that someone who should clearly understand what it is like to be persecuted for who they are, seems to be so willing to persecute someone else based on your preconceived notions of another group. To presume that because I am christian that if I were not gay, I would be against gay people is not only ludicrous, it is actually offensive.
jwtraveler
@onthemark: LOL I love it.
To be fair, it’s religious fundamentalism, of all stripes, that’s the culprit. Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, etc.; they all seem to breed intolerance. Buddhists seem to be a little less intolerant, but Buddhists don’t actually believe in a god as I understand it.
Alex Rothwell
Persecution thing is the stupidest thing for them to say.
Rosalynn D'Angela
need to plan a million gays march for kentucky
Jeff Scott
We “gays” have asked/hoped/waited for an End Of ‘Persecution (by religion) for thousands of years. And now that we finally have had enough, and start fighting your fire with fire, YOU suddenly feel persecuted? NOPE!
1EqualityUSA
Alistair Wiseman, where are you on this thread? Do you not see how the ReBiblicans “[sic]” are nuts?
Ronald Silby
Wait a minute………Who is persecuting who now? I doubt that they even know or understand what persecution is really like.
Jonathan Banks
People ask for equality and these “Christians” cry “persecution”. These “Christians” done more harm to people, yet believe they are good people who are on their way to heaven. Horse pucky.
Bob Pattinson
A flock of sheep – stupid and brainless.
Dakotahgeo
@1EqualityUSA: He’s probably at the Tennessee rally lapping up the sour cream they spew in the name of Jesus! (Even Jesus wants nothing to do with this brood of vipers!).
Londale Foster
Oh look, a Bigot Fest!!!
Auxifur White Wolf Wolfgram
What are they being persecuted of? If anything, these so-called “Christians” have been doing more harm to everyone else, pushing their religious beliefs on anyone that is not a part of their cult. Fucking idiots..
Tattyfatty
@Jeff Scott: I “suddenly feel persecuted” because I am religious, I am gay, guess you missed that point.yes I understand and AGREE that there are a lot of nasty christians out there and they should leave people alone Fight fire with fire? I have no problem with that idea either. My issue is you need to take better care as to where you aim that fire, you are firing on someone who has NEVER been against you, and has time and again supported gay rights. Lumping all christians into the same little box these religious zealots fall into is no better than the narrow minded attitude those same people attack the gay community with.
Rogelio Lopez
Looks like a Bunch of old people.
William Holahan
Silly people, first stop your persecuting of gays. Then watch what happens.
Michael Clifford
Wait a minute – they’re persecuted now??? WTF???
Grreg Morse
“Speaking to reporters, Land suggested the next president could appoint conservative Supreme Court justices who would overturn that ruling.” This absolutely frightens me, we must no let inter-party competition lead knocking down other democrats. We must remain united and make sure a Democrat gets into office, whether it’s a moderate or a progressive. We are not voting for a president, we are voting for the right to nominate 3 to 4 Supreme Court justices.
1EqualityUSA
Dakotahgeo, I just don’t understand how these simpletons can be appealing to any voter. They scare me. They shouldn’t have power because they are foolish. Why Alistair? It has to be a religious thing. The ReBiblicans rode the LGBT horse until we bucked them off of us, and now it’s women’s rights that will fuel the hate and draw the dollars. Churches won’t open up orphanages. Poverty ensues. The next money-generating target will be some marginalized community. It’s called shaking the Hate Tree. Shameful GOP, synonymous with loons. Embarrassing and disruptive. Obstructive. Self-centered and conniving. Cheaters and hypocrites. Unprofessional. Not an asset to our Country, accept to the top 1%. Religious coercion from our government is unacceptable. That is a dangerous precedent. Separation of Church and State has never been more relevant. Religion tangled with politics is oppression. Our Country has seen success because we are free. We are free to speak, we are compensated for ideas, we are diverse. The ReBiblicans threaten this dynamic with their idiocy. Alistair, you must be a nutter. Politics is a quagmire for religious nutters. They’ll play you for dollars that could have been spent building hospitals, schools, orphanages, and being of service out of love for humanity. Oppression is not love.
Diane Lyle
what a farse!! and using Religion to ?? oh wait til the day comes calling?? really its a scary world for sure !!
Allan Gray
publicly displaying ignorance appears to be a hobby of these morons
Kevin Elsasser
Can someone please tell me: What persecution???? Are they beaten, jailed, banished, ostracized, imprisoned for being Christian? Are they forbidden from praying and worshipping? Are they placed in Christian ghettoes? Marched off to concentration camps? Deported? Told they cannot be married, could be fired from a job, evicted from housing, dishonorably discharged from the military, relocated to reservations, used as human experiments, sold into slavery, told they cannot vote or donate blood? Are their bibles confiscated? Are they fed to the lions? Each time they use the word “persecution,” it is a dishonor and disgrace to those peoples who have been persecuted.
Atrius
Bring back the lions!
Laura Thaw
You’d think they have more important things to rally about.
Randall Parisy
I thought bullying was illegal now. This whole thing sure feeling like bullying that the right wing is fully supporting.
Caylin Joey Gerhardt
there is no persecution
Stefano
@Kevin Elsasser: sadly they think that it is OK because they put their religious beliefs above everything including humain rights.
DarkZephyr
@Victor Barry: So, being able to grow old = wrong? Being born Caucasian = wrong? Fat shaming and disabled shaming = OK? You do realize that a lot of LGBT people are “old”, “fat” and “white” and even “disabled”, right? As are many of our allies?
dwes09
@Noah Ayyash:
Get a brain, idiot. you look pretty fucking white to me, and your mind seems as closed as theirs in its own foolish way.
It is ideology and stupidity NOT race and age.
I’m 64, does that make me part of the problem. Remember for someone like you, if you don’t want to be old and white someday, the alternative is to be dead.
paul dorian lord fredine
i’m getting so sick and tired of their incessant whining. i am surprised daddy cruz crawled out of his crypt for this, and in the daylight. must mean sonnyboy needs the press….and the bucks.
Giancarlo85
They say they are being discriminated against because they aren’t able to force their viewpoints onto others anymore. They want to write their religious doctrine into laws and make this country a theocracy. This is what conservatives want. They want discrimination written into the laws.
Stefano
@Giancarlo85: Exactly.
Bill Purcell
Un-fucking-believable. Maybe if they had a child who was gay, bullied at school, and they felt their only option to end the misery was to take their own life they’d grab an iota of sense. Then again, maybe not. Let’s hope these old-guard assholes just die off real quick. Real quick. Maybe now. Leave the fairy tales to the Brothers Grimm.
Johnny Mulkerrin
All old, fat, wall-mart shopping hypocrites!
Jimmy Lee
Straight, old, fat, KKKhristian, white people. The real terrorists of the the US.
Curty
It’ll be a good idea to not allow a Republican in the white house again next year. Please vote and bring your friends or you will see all kind of laws, crazy nut job shit as law too attack glbt folks. We can’t go back to Bush era and before then. This remember that.
Kraig Fiero
That looks like a retirement home picture!!!
Daniel-Reader
Cruz’s largest donation comes from “Christian” pastor-brothers who made 3+ billion selling majority control of their American company to an Islamic government’s sovereign wealth fund group (which funds the government). So his money comes by way of a massive human rights violating foreign government. This is why American politics is corrupted by other governments as America is solding off to other countries. The “Christian” brothers set up foundations to also fund anti-gay causes, and so-called Christian groups are dipping into the Islamic-originating money.
Jane Elliott
there is not a true Christian among them
Will Glitzern
OMG, a sea of old white people…
Hussain-TheCanadian
I really don’t understand Americans; rather than coming out in droves to support this bigot, why not protest against your lying, thieving, murderous political class????
Kit Cañedo
notice how they’re mostly old people. you are a dying breed. literally.
Louis
I wish these people would just go ahead and commit themselves for the good of all mankind .
Chris Brewer
fucking cunts
jwtraveler
@Victor Barry: “on disability”? What does that have to do anything?
jwtraveler
@Jane Elliott: Where do I find these “true Christians” I keep reading about? These people are the face of Christianity in the U.S. as I see it.
jwtraveler
@DarkZephyr: There are plenty of gay ones in that group too. Some of them post on Queerty.
Lisbeth Solis
End of persecution? They’re the ones persecuting gays!
Wooly
What a bunch of weirdos.
Ricco Galmore
These people are so whack.
Mike Smith
Looks like most of that old fartage will be dead by Jan 2017!
Billysees
@Mark Pointon:
” These people have no idea how fucking stupid they look, and are making Americans look even more stupid. ”
How perfectly true.
@jwtraveler:
” To be fair, it’s religious fundamentalism, of all stripes, that’s the culprit. Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, etc.; they all seem to breed intolerance. ”
@Kraig Fiero:
” That looks like a retirement home picture!!! ”
Good comments all.
Electra Eddie
All old people on thier way OUT anyways..who cares??
Gee Rosato
Bob Kellerman
Look at the age of them — they will not be a problem for long.
Gary Harryman
Sick Christian Dominionist who are preaching that the world should live only in a way that they personally approve of, or be killed. This dustup in Kentucky has never been about “Gay Marriage” – it’s about Equality. It’s about the most fundamental of Human Rights and American Values – Equality for We The People.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”.
Homophobia is a sickness – a mental illness. Homophobic people like Davis and her enablers are pathologically perverse in their hatred of human sexuality, respect, and love. They are mentally ill un-American bigots trying to use superstition and religion as a cover for their sickness and their criminal expression of their sickness.
Anne Conzemius
God what could all these people be doing if they stopped hating ?
Frank House
The oppressors. …claiming THEY are the oppressed. Ho hum…. exalt yourselves oh divine biblical literalists….and you will be humbled.
Victor Incerti
Misguided idiots! Like lemmings into the sea!
Don Hanover
but, it’s OK for christians to beat up people who don’t share their beliefs because?
Teri Beaudoin
U Have NO IDEA what PERSECUTION is…..walk a mile in my gay shoes or those of a refugee fleeing their homeland and then and only then do you have a right to comment…..
Jeffrey Thomas
Do they mean they are going to stop religiously persecuting the rest of us?
Scott McIntosh
These people are the Old, the Stupid and the Poor, the ‘American Way’ gives them next to nothing, so they turn in their depair to sky-gods and manipulative ‘Pastors’, they are more to be pitied than scorned- failing that just laugh in their faces. BUT their poison is leaking out and harming other poor, uneducated parts of the World, particularly in Africaand that must be stopped by a concerted effort by all people of intelligence and goodwill
Eric Stockstill
Why don’t they just shoot themselves?
guest4ever
interesting how there is never any discussion about the 34 million people dead from aids because of homosexuals… or the countless children who have been molested by homosexuals
interesting, isn’t it?
Dakotahgeo
@guest4ever: @guest4ever: No really, g4e… when you consider that the MAJORITY of molestations are by heterosexuals (married, at that!) and of course, your tainted truth is not what the MAJORITY of Americans believe today. We don’t hate you, silly boy… we simply pity you a LOT! Good luck with your snake oil business!
guest4ever
homosexuals hate those who tell the truth about homosexuality, just as they hate themselves for being involved in it
that’s a lot of hate, isn’t it?
yes, it is…
Giancarlo85
@guest4ever: Oh look… it’s a stupid troll visiting a gay website. Do you realize the massive overwhelming majority of HIV/AIDS cases in the WORLD have been among heterosexuals since the disease first emerged? Do you realize the overwhelming majority of child molestation cases are done by heterosexual men towards underage girls? I even look at other countries… take India for example… women getting gang raped for no reason at all.
@guest4ever: And what’s the truth? You are the one full of hate. Your comments don’t even make sense and don’t include complete thoughts. You are one demented person.
Dakotahgeo
@Giancarlo85: @guest4ever: Actually, Giancarlo, if g4e were just demented we could hold back our vomit but s/he is uneducated also. He has a strange/strong resemblance to the old “Hooper, Inc.” et al, who has been dropped more times on his head than a normal baby would, lolol. g4e/Hooper is a sad thing we must pity and pray for.
David Pickersgill
So many people… so few fuctioning brain cells…
Edward Kiner
These emotionally insufficient fools have no idea what persecution feels like. They seem to believe that no longer being able to ‘legally’ discriminate against a minority — one that includes many from their own community — is persecuting them.
They’re whining because someone else has achieved freedom of expression in a free society. What should we be calling that?
NJjoe
By the photo, it looks like an AARP Convention. These morons can protest all they want, the law is now the law and there is not a damn thing they can do about it. So they can bitch ’till hell freezes over. So much hatred in one space you could probably smell pathetic in the air.