Kim Davis's Lone Gay Friend: We're Not Actually Friends

For once, Kim Davis was telling the truth! Kinda! The embattled Rowan County Clerk, who’s desperately trying to maintain her fifteen minutes of fame, recently told interviewers that she had “gay friends” who respect her decisions. Turns out she does have gay friends. One gay friend. And he doesn’t even like her that much.

The Daily Beast tracked down a gentleman named Dallas Black, a lifelong resident of Morehead, Kentucky who got (relatively) close to Davis when he had to fill out paperwork related to his mother’s death. But despite the fact that Black has known Davis his entire life and even has her home phone number (they’re also distant cousins), he says that they’re not really all that friendly. He wouldn’t invite Davis to his wedding and he’s not too pleased to be trotted out by the avowed bigot as proof that she’s not homophobic:

From The Daily Beast:

“Even after this all started, I went in a few days later and we spoke,” he said. “We talked about how each other were feeling, and how we’re gonna be friends even after all this.”

Now he said he doesn’t recognize her.

“I really don’t know who Kim is at the moment. I really want to believe that the kind, sweet person who was there when my mom passed away is still there,” he said. “I was friends with Kim in the past, but I don’t know this woman I’ve been seeing.”

And it doesn’t sound like the two will remain friends, because Black had no idea that Davis would fight so hard against gays based on her religious convictions. While Mike Huckabee and Co. are happy to tout the fact that Davis has been touched by the grace of god and washed clean, Black is surprised about his friend’s religious fervor. “She wasn’t even a Christian until four years ago,” he says.

Black says he’d help Davis if she came to him for support—he told The Daily Beast he tolerates her views because members of his own family are also against homosexuality— but like many other residents of Morehead, he’s embarrassed that she’s taken one of the most progressive college towns in Kentucky and turned it into a national laughingstock because she refuses to do her job.

“This is kind of like a sanctuary for people who came to [Morehead State University]. They live here now, they’ve made it their home because it’s so progressive,” he said. “And now it’s like, what is this place we live in? This is not the home we know. We don’t feel safe now. That’s ultimately what she did. She made us feel like our home was invaded by strangers, and she made us strangers to it.”

He’s not the only one who feels this way. The town bookshop (the only one in the entire eastern Kentucky region) has been printing shirts that read “small town does not mean small-minded,” and another Kim in town—Kim Tabor, who works at the judicial court in Morehead—actually took to wearing a shirt that read “My name is not Kim Davis.”

Fusion reports that aside from losing her one gay friend and the support of what appears to be an entire town (although Grayson, which is only 50 minutes away, would love to have her!), Davis has also lost another appeal to halt gay marriages in what she must now think of as “Her County.” That doesn’t mean she’ll stop, though. And if that news depresses you, Fusion’s also dug up a clip of Anita Bryant getting pied in the face to help you get through these troubling times.