Op-ed: History, and Ignorance, Repeats Itself in Mississippi

While my Facebook feed was turning rainbow the last weekend in June, with more than 26 million people changing their profile pictures to show their support for marriage equality, the elected officials in my home state of Mississippi were clinging to the black-and-white rhetoric of a time when the subject was still up for debate. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves lashed out at the news, declaring that "the overreach of the federal government during the Obama presidency has now officially expanded from the executive to the judicial branch." Gov. Phil Bryant lamented that "today, a federal court has usurped the right to self-governance and has mandated that states must comply with federal marriage standards -- standards that are out of step with the wishes of many in the United States and that are certainly out of step with the majority of Mississippians."

Well, I am sorry that my upcoming marriage to my partner of eight years isn't up to Bryant's "standards," but thankfully my rights are now safely out of his hands, and should I be hospitalized while visiting my family back home, I'm glad to know my future husband will not be denied visitation rights. And House Judiciary Chairman Andy Gipson can keep "investigating" removing the state marriage license requirement altogether (which would cost the state untold millions in revenue over the coming years) and "researching what options there are," or he can accept that our political process has already delivered a literal verdict on the subject. His only other option is to continue the dirty legal tactics and mudslinging that Republican leaders have used to try to derail Roe v. Wade and interfere with the operations of with the only abortion clinic still operating in the state, an option I am sure he will pursue.

At least Attorney General Jim Hood has clarified that his office is not standing in the way of the court's decision, after initially declaring that "the Supreme Court's decision is not effective immediately in Mississippi." Kudos to Mr. Hood for also asking to withdraw as Governor Bryant's counsel in the upcoming same-sex marriage case and ordering county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses, but as of Friday there were still still counties not issuing marriage licenses. The Supreme Court has ruled. The Fifth Circuit Appeals Court has ruled. If the county clerks have not corrected this error within the month, I swear I will drag my fiance down to Holmes County and demand a license in person.

If any of these gentlemen find the prospect of my marriage too revolting to continue doing their jobs then I suggest they follow the course of clerks like Grenada County's Linda Barnette and resign immediately, "because the Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is contrary to God's plan and purpose for marriage and family." Where was their outrage when the state was issuing marriage licenses to divorcees and couples unable to conceive children? What, exactly, is the high standard of marriage that Mississippi has upheld that the rest of us should aspire to, considering the fact that the Southeast has the highest divorce rate in the country? And what exactly is it about this issue, other than their blatant homophobic pandering to their conservative base, that makes it any different from other sinful unions, biblically speaking? If we want to ban gay marriage, shouldn't we be stoning adulterers?

They can't answer these questions, so they won't. They'll just keep spouting the same tired rhetoric and insisting that it isn't hate speech because it's couched in terms of their "deeply held religious beliefs," or worse, inventing phantom churches and clergy that have been forced to marry gay deviants against their will and baptize their adopted hellspawn. I am still waiting for someone to produce a single religious institution that has been forced to go against its belief system by performing a same-sex ceremony. They can't, so they won't. They'll just keep pivoting the argument, probably to florists and bakers that want to deny goods and services to gay people on the basis of their beliefs, unable to grasp the reality that the same logic could be used to deny Christians goods and services. It all boils down to the freedom to discriminate, and while discrimination may not be the only sign of bigotry, it's certainly a clear, 10 million-watt, Vegas Strip, see-it-from-space sign of bigotry for anyone except for the willfully blind.

The tide is shifting in this country, and these excuses won't always grant you a free pass to discriminate based on your religious beliefs. It may take longer in the South, but trust me, a day will come where these men's remarks will be remembered in the same way we now remember antimiscegenation laws. When the Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Virginia made interracial marriage legal nationwide, Mississippi was one of the few states that still had an antimiscegenation law on the books, and recent polls say nearly 30 percent of Republicans would still vote against interracial marriage more than 40 years later. I'm not creating a false equivalency between racism and homophobia, but I am saying that they are often harbored in the same bad arguments and cold hearts.

History will brand these politicians bigots, even if their contemporaries won't. And in the meantime they should get used to their comments being scrutinized harshly by more and more people in my generation, and the generations to follow, because the court's recognition of LGBT people's right to human dignity has strengthened our resolve to see all forms of discrimination abolished in this country. Yes, we believe that black lives matter. Yes, we believe that women deserve equal pay and the right to choose. Yes, we believe it should be illegal to fire a person for being LGBT. It is my sincerest hope that we will one day look back and find it baffling that these rights were ever politically divisive, as they should all be protected under the banner of the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

KIT WILLIAMSON is an actor and filmmaker from Jackson, Miss. He is best known for playing Ed Gifford on the past two seasons of Mad Men and creating the Logo web series EastSiders, which is now available on iTunes, Hulu and Amazon. You can follow him on twitter and instagram at @KitWilliamson.