It is not a coincidence that Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who is currently at the center of a heated legal battle over her refusal to allow the county office to issue any marriage licenses in order to avoid having to provide them to gay couples, is being represented by Mat Staver and his organization Liberty Counsel, as both he and the organization have a long history of vehemently anti-gay activism. While the Supreme Court has rebuffed Davis’ legal challenges, Staver has continued to insist that she and other anti-gay clerks are justified in violating the law.

Today, Staver appeared on Steve Malzberg’s Newsmax program, where, amazingly, he declared that it was entirely reasonable for the more than 20,000 residents of Rowan County, Kentucky, to have to drive 30 minutes to another county in order to obtain a marriage license in order to protect Davis’ personal religious convictions.

“The simple issue that can be resolved is her religious conscience and convictions,” Staver said. “You have 120 counties in Kentucky and you have additional jurisdictions that can issue licenses. So it’s 130-plus venues; you drive 30 minutes in any direction in Kentucky and get a marriage license. You don’t have to force Kim Davis herself to issue the license.”

Staver went on to warn that if Davis, who has also ordered deputy clerks not to issue marriage licenses, is actually required to do her job as an elected official and public employee, soon the government will go after churches, Christian universities, and Christian businesses as well because “what the end goal is is to stamp out freedom.”