Scroll To Top
Politics

Kim Davis's Lawyer to Houston Mayor: 'Why Don't You Just Resign?'

Kim Davis's Lawyer to Houston Mayor: 'Why Don't You Just Resign?'

AP Photo

The man who is defending the antigay Kentucky clerk in court apparently missed the irony in his call for Annise Parker to step down.

Lifeafterdawn
Support The Advocate
LGBTQ+ stories are more important than ever. Join us in fighting for our future. Support our journalism.

Mat Staver, the lawyer who has been front and center in the controversy over Kentucky marriage licenses has some advice for out Houston Mayor Annise Parker: resign and let someone else do the job.

Parker has vowed that in her remaining days in office, she will continue to fight for an equal rights ordinance that voters overwhelmingly rejected last week. And that is why Staver told a radio audience he believes it's time for her to step aside, according to Right Wing Watch.

He said this without a hint of irony, given that Staver has rebuffed all suggestions that his client, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, should resign from her elected position if she won't do her job of issuing marriage licenses to everyone, including same-sex couples.

Stare heads a right-wing conservative law firm which the Southern Poverty Law Center includes in its list of hate groups and extremists, Liberty Counsel.

Staffer's co-host on their "Faith and Freedom" radio program, Matt Barber -- named this summer one of the 13 biggest trolls in media by The Advocate-- alleged the election results so upset Parker that she is now urging companies to boycott her own city.

That's not exactly accurate. Parker told reporters last week:

"I fear that this will have stained Houston's reputation as a tolerant, welcoming, global city. I absolutely fear that there will be a direct economic backlash as a result of this ordinance going into defeat and that's sad for Houston."

But in reply to Barber's point, Staver declared that Parker ought to simply resign and "let somebody else do" the job if she feels that she cannot represent the "taxpayers and citizens" that she was elected to serve:

"That is like a CEO of a company who says you need to boycott our company, stop buying products from our company because we have a policy that I, the CEO, don't agree with even though the board of directors has ultimately voted for this policy, so stop patronizing our company. Well, you know what, if that's what your feeling is, resign from the company. Mayor, if you want people to boycott Houston, why don't you just resign and let somebody else who wants to run the mayor's office and represent the city of Houston and all of the taxpayers and citizens of Houston? Why don't you just let someone else do it because, frankly, you haven't been doing a very good job."

Listen to the radio program featuring Mat Staver and Matt Barber, below.

Lifeafterdawn
30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Dawn Ennis

The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.
The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.