Posted on Oct 25, 2023
Gay marriage is legal in Texas. A justice who won't marry same-sex couples heads to court anyway
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/10/25/texas-supreme-court-gay-marriage-case/ [login to see] 7/
The Texas Supreme Court is reconsidering the case of a justice of the peace who for years turned away gay couples who wanted to get married even after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide.
Oral arguments begin Wednesday in the case of Dianne Hensley, a justice of the peace in Waco who was reprimanded by the state’s judicial conduct commission in 2019 for only performing heterosexual weddings.
The new phase of the litigation is the first page in the final chapter of a controversial case that has lingered in the Texas court system – and hung over LGBTQ people in the state – for years. It’s yet another legal fight at the intersection of religious freedom and the civil rights of queer and transgender Americans. In recent years, as the makeup of the nation’s highest court has grown more conservative, that fight has only become more pronounced in lower courts across the country.
The Texas Supreme Court is reconsidering the case of a justice of the peace who for years turned away gay couples who wanted to get married even after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide.
Oral arguments begin Wednesday in the case of Dianne Hensley, a justice of the peace in Waco who was reprimanded by the state’s judicial conduct commission in 2019 for only performing heterosexual weddings.
The new phase of the litigation is the first page in the final chapter of a controversial case that has lingered in the Texas court system – and hung over LGBTQ people in the state – for years. It’s yet another legal fight at the intersection of religious freedom and the civil rights of queer and transgender Americans. In recent years, as the makeup of the nation’s highest court has grown more conservative, that fight has only become more pronounced in lower courts across the country.
Gay marriage is legal in Texas. A justice who won't marry same-sex couples heads to court anyway
Posted from usatoday.com
Marriage
Same Sex Marriage
LGBTQ+
State of Texas
Waco
Posted 6 mo ago
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Here is another Judge who slams her pledge to NOT put her personal reason, such as Religion, above what is lawfort.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Douglas S. Lang, a former appeals court justice representing the judicial commission in court, said Hensley’s argument that the commission discriminated against her religious beliefs isn't accurate.
The public warning, he said, was instead about her behavior, which Lang said demonstrated judicial bias.
“The Commission will stand up and argue for the preservation of the compelling interest to assure judges’ impartiality and support Texas citizens’ trust in the impartiality of the judiciary,” Lang said in an email to USA TODAY, summarizing the arguments he plans to make before the court Wednesday.
In an interview this month with the Dallas Morning News, Hensley said she didn't want to be “caricatured” as the case reenters the spotlight. She never received any complaints about turning away same-sex couples, she said. But she couldn't be held responsible for other people's feelings.
A college LGBTQ center disappeared. It wasn’t the only one.
“There have been many situations in my life when I didn’t feel overly welcomed or endorsed or whatever,” she told the newspaper. “I’m an adult. That’s just how life is.”
Johnathan Gooch, the communications director for the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, took issue with those comments. He told USA TODAY that gay couples in Texas haven’t complained about feeling unwelcome.
“They’re complaining that their rights are being ignored or overlooked,” he said. “That’s a very different situation.”
..."Douglas S. Lang, a former appeals court justice representing the judicial commission in court, said Hensley’s argument that the commission discriminated against her religious beliefs isn't accurate.
The public warning, he said, was instead about her behavior, which Lang said demonstrated judicial bias.
“The Commission will stand up and argue for the preservation of the compelling interest to assure judges’ impartiality and support Texas citizens’ trust in the impartiality of the judiciary,” Lang said in an email to USA TODAY, summarizing the arguments he plans to make before the court Wednesday.
In an interview this month with the Dallas Morning News, Hensley said she didn't want to be “caricatured” as the case reenters the spotlight. She never received any complaints about turning away same-sex couples, she said. But she couldn't be held responsible for other people's feelings.
A college LGBTQ center disappeared. It wasn’t the only one.
“There have been many situations in my life when I didn’t feel overly welcomed or endorsed or whatever,” she told the newspaper. “I’m an adult. That’s just how life is.”
Johnathan Gooch, the communications director for the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, took issue with those comments. He told USA TODAY that gay couples in Texas haven’t complained about feeling unwelcome.
“They’re complaining that their rights are being ignored or overlooked,” he said. “That’s a very different situation.”
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