TEXAS PUBLIC OFFICIALS who object to gay marriage will not have to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the state’s attorney general has said.
The US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage is a legal right in all 50 states.
But in a statement yesterday, General Ken Paxton said that county clerks can decline to issue licenses on the grounds of religious freedom.
He said “numerous lawyers” are prepared to provide free legal defence to any clerk who faces litigation for refusing to grant one.
“Texas must speak with one voice against this lawlessness, and act on multiple levels to further protect religious liberties for all Texans,” he wrote.
First amendment
Paxton stated that the Supreme Court ruling does “not diminish, overrule or call into question” the first amendment of the American constitution, which protects religious freedom.
“County clerks and their employees retain religious freedoms that may allow accommodation of their religious objections to issuing same-sex marriage licenses,” he said.
“Justices of the peace and judges similarly retain religious freedoms and may claim that the government cannot force them to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies over their religious objections.”
Last week’s Supreme Court judgement overruled the bans on same-sex marriage in 14 states, including Texas.
In a statement shortly after the ruling, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, said that the court had “abandoned its role as an impartial judicial arbiter” and “imposed on the entire country their personal views on an issue that the constitution and the court’s previous decisions reserve to the people of the states”.
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