The hills weren’t alive with music this week, they were echoing with Andy Cohen’s searing takedown of Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who once refused marriage licenses to same-sex couples and is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase marriage equality.
Davis, who spent five days in jail in 2015 for contempt of court, is once again making headlines after petitioning the court in July to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Since that decision, more than 800,000 LGBTQ+ couples have wed in the United States.
A History of Defiance
Davis first gained notoriety after she denied a marriage license to David Ermold and David Moore in Rowan County, Kentucky. She argued that issuing the license would violate her religious beliefs, even after the Supreme Court ruled marriage equality was a constitutional right.
Her legal team now claims the Obergefell ruling was “flawed” and has caused “disastrous results” for religious liberty. Alongside seeking to overturn the decision, Davis is requesting over $350,000 in damages and legal fees, money tied to the compensation she was ordered to pay Ermold and Moore.
Cohen’s Blistering Response
On a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live, Cohen named Davis his “jack hole of the day” and delivered a roast that would make a Real Housewife blush.
“Lady, you’ve been married four times to three different people, reportedly getting pregnant with husband number three while still married to husband number one,” Cohen said. “And you want to lecture us on the sanctity of marriage?”
He didn’t stop there. Cohen suggested Davis might want to prioritize self-reflection over dismantling basic rights: “How about you take your high-body-count hair, bigoted, bump-it ass to therapy to figure out your relationship issues before you try to nuke our basic civil rights.”
The host closed the segment by pointing his middle finger toward the floor and declaring, “Overturn this, lady!”
Marital Record Under Scrutiny
According to Newsweek, Davis married Dwain Allen Wallace in the 1980s and divorced in 1994, the same year she gave birth to children fathered by another man. She later married Joe Davis, divorced him in 2006, married Thomas McIntyre in 2007 for a single year, and remarried Joe Davis in 2009.
Her attorney, Mat Staver, has previously said Davis “regrets many of the decisions she made” and “loves the Lord” but cannot act against her beliefs.
The Bigger Picture
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will hear Davis’ challenge. If accepted, the case could become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. and another test of how far religious liberty arguments can go in rolling back hard-won civil rights.
For now, Cohen’s viral rant ensures that even if Davis’ legal battle gains traction, she’ll have a tough time avoiding the public’s side-eye.
