A new billboard that popped up along a busy Rowan County road has again drawn attention to the eastern Kentucky county ahead of embattled county clerk Kim Davis’ expected return to work on Monday.
“Dear Kim Davis,” the billboard reads, “the fact that you can’t sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we’ve already redefined marriage.”
The billboard defends gay rights and criticizes Davis’s decision to not issue same-sex couples marriage licenses—a decision that led to Davis being held in jail for five days.
The message refers to a Bible scripture in Exodus that suggests women can be sold into a marriage.
Check out this new billboard from our friends at @Planting_Peace http://t.co/u87aKUAhlA pic.twitter.com/5iCIc0Su8Q
— NOH8 Campaign (@NOH8Campaign) September 12, 2015
Aaron Jackson, president of Planting Peace, says the billboard cost $500 and will remain in place for one month. “The anti-LGBT movement is selective in what rules to follow and how they choose to define ‘traditional’ institutions or values,” Jackson told NBC.
The Supreme Court’s June ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges said the Constitution guaranteed same-sex couples the right to get married. Davis, a clerk in Rowan County, refused to abide, saying that her Apostolic Christian beliefs prohibited her from issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Her refusal to grant licenses led to her being jailed for being in contempt of the court. She was released on Sept. 8, but a judge said she could not interfere with her deputies providing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Jackson said Planting Peace was attempting to show gay people around the world that they were supported. “You are loved, valued, supported, and beautiful,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with you, and we will stand by you. You are not alone.”
Agencies/Canadajournal