Kentucky Governor Says Kim Davis Is ‘Inspiration to Children’ in Video Comparing Gays to Nazis

The governor of Kentucky really wants you to read Kim Davis’ new book.

In a video for the forthcoming memoir Under God’s Authority: The Kim Davis Story, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin applauded the controversial Rowan County clerk for her “boldness [and] conviction” in denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015. Davis said her Apostolic Christian faith prevented her from being able to recognize their relationships.

Bevin further calls Davis “an inspiration.” He claims the 40-year-old, who spent five days in jail as a result of her actions, is not only inspiring “to leaders like myself.” She’s also a role model for “the children of America.”

“Against all the scorn, all the enmity, all the vitriol, all the nastiness, she stood firm,” the conservative says in a seven-minute video released by the right-wing law firm Liberty Counsel on Monday. “People, even if they disagree with her, have got to respect the fact that here is a woman who was willing to put it all on the line out of conviction for what she believed and knew to be her right as an American citizen.”

“Her faith and her conviction in the fact that that faith was protected by the First Amendment in our Constitutionin our Bill of Rights, specificallyis something that she was willing to put front and center,” he continues.

“If that’s not admirable, if that’s not something we would want all Americans to emulate, I don’t know what is,” Bevin concludes.

Under God’s Authority, which will be released and distributed by Liberty Counsel, is scheduled to hit stores later this year. The Florida-based advocacy group claimed the memoir would recount “her dramatic encounters with furious, fist-pounding, homosexual men and the hate mail that flooded her office.”

The forthcoming memoir has already received Mike Huckabee’s seal of approval. The former Arkansas governor, who appeared at a rally with Davis after she was released from jail, calls Under God’s Authority “a great read.”

“But more than that, this remarkable story of what God did in Kim’s life gives me hope for our nation,” he claims in a blurb. “I think it will give you hope, too.”

Perhaps the most bizarre and eyebrow-raising aspect of Liberty Counsel’s PR blitz is a poem accompanying the video which appears to compare Christians to Jews in Nazi Germany and LGBTQ people to the Third Reich. The promo repurposes Martin Niemöller’s “First they came,” a short poem about complacency during a time of persecution.

The version included in the video references so-called “religious freedom” cases like Barronelle Stutzman and Jack Phillips, who denied services to same-sex couples because of their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

“First they came for the county clerk, but I did not speak out because I do not do marriage licenses,” the video claims.

“Then they came for the wedding photographer, but I did not speak out because I did not photograph weddings,” it continues. “Then they came for the baker, but I did not speak out because I was not a baker. Then they came for the florist, but I said nothing because I was not a florist. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

In addition to becoming a published author, Davis recently embarked on a nine-day tour of Romania to lobby against marriage equality on behalf of Liberty Counsel, which represented her in court. She also faces reelection for the county clerk’s office in Rowan County.

Davis will face off against David Ermold in that race, one of the men from the same-sex couples she refused a marriage license three years ago.

Photo by Ty Wright/Getty Images