On Thursday morning, Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis was held in contempt of court and jailed.

Good.

Why was she held in contempt of court? Because she has been refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling in June that declared same-sex marriage legal.

Why is it good that she is being held in contempt of court?

Because Davis refusing to perform her legal duties as per her job requirements. By refusing to hand out marriage licenses, she is failing to perform a major portion of her duties as a county clerk. Not only did she stop issuing them to same-sex couples, but, as of Monday, she refused to issue them to anyone else as well.

When asked under whose authority that she was refusing licenses, she replied “under God’s authority,” which leads to the biggest problem with this situation. Davis and her supporters are under the impression that she, and other Christians, are being persecuted for having to issue licenses to those who they have deemed unfit for marriage (or apparently equal rights).

Is Davis being persecuted for her religion? Of course not. Davis is not being forced into a gay marriage. She is handing paperwork to happy couples, which is part of the job description that she swore under oath to uphold. If she does not like this new part of her job description, it is time for her to step down.

She is discriminating against a select group of individuals who now hold the same rights that she has. Some of the outrage comes after the discovery that Davis has had three divorces. The Bible may dismiss homosexuality, but it also dismisses divorce.

But Davis claims that she found redemption after her divorces, invalidating that argument in her eyes. But even if Davis was not a Christian at the time of her divorces, someone issued her a marriage license four times, whether or not it was against that clerk’s wishes or not. Davis is not above reproach.

Davis is wasting taxpayers dollars in an effort to stave off the inevitable. She will either have to issue the marriage licenses or step down. As an elected official, it is difficult to fire her— much to our disappointment. She can only be removed by the state legislature.

Davis is in a conservative state; she will have enough supporters that she probably won’t be asked to step down. Maybe she will just stay in contempt of court until she retires.

What is even more infuriating is that now Davis will be seen as a martyr for this flock of Christian right-wing nuts. Anonymous donations will spring up and pay her bills. She will more than likely be given book deals and sign away the movie rights.

Her behavior has been an absolute abuse of power. Separation of church and state exists so that individuals are not persecuted because of the religious beliefs held by others. The only individuals being persecuted here are the ones who cannot freely express their love and exercise their civil rights in the state of Kentucky.

You have no legal right to impose your beliefs upon someone else because they believe differently than you.

You do not see Catholics running around slapping beef jerky out of other people’s hands during Lent.

Davis deserves to be held in jail until she either steps down or acknowledges the rights of same-sex couples.

Issuing a license is a matter of the state, not a matter of morality. Get with the program, Kentucky.