During the pope’s recent visit, the left was enthralled. He talked about immigration and the environment. He spoke about income inequality and progressives couldn’t get enough.
All that good will went out the window when they found out that the pope also met with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who became a national name for her opposition to gay marriage.
Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart of Slate provides a perfect example:
Why Pope Francis’ Meeting With Kim Davis Is Such a Disaster
I woke up this morning to reports that during his recent U.S. visit, Pope Francis met with Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk best known for refusing to issue lawful marriage licenses, interfering with the ability of her deputies to issue lawful marriage licenses, and making unauthorized changes to the lawful marriage license forms for her county. When I saw this news, my heart sank. In one 15-minute meeting, the pope undermined the unifying, healing message that many queer people and our supporters were so eager to have him bring.
This blow hit me particularly hard because I had written so hopefully about the pope’s address to Congress. Although I’ve directly benefitted from the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage even more than most other Americans in the queer community, LGBTQ issues have never been my first priority. I believe that America’s ability to grapple with and seek solutions for our toughest problems has been weakened by the constant activity of culture war activists, people on both sides who draw attention to flavor-of-the-month scandals, outrages, and personalities.
Kim Davis is the living embodiment of the sort of minor, distracting, noxious culture-war figure who continually saps America’s ability to focus on anything but the distractions of culture warriors.
It almost sounds like Urquhart doesn’t consider herself one of the culture warriors she bemoans.
Self awareness has never been one of the left’s strongest qualities.
What she’s basically saying is that the pope ruined her image of him as a progressive by reminding her that he’s a Catholic first and a progressive second.
For the left, that’s heresy.
(Image:Source)
