Posted on 07/07/2015 1:24:50 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A gay couple was granted a marriage license Monday shortly after filing a federal lawsuit against a county clerk in North Texas who cited religious opposition when denying them a license last week.
Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton filed the lawsuit Monday morning against Hood County Clerk Katie Lang. The men said they were repeatedly turned away when trying to obtain a license last week in Granbury, the county seat, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide.
The men were quickly granted a license and "are delighted" that they can get married in their home county, according to their attorney, Jan Soifer.
"It's a shame that they needed to hire lawyers and file a lawsuit to make that happen," Soifer said in a statement.
But the couple hasn't withdrawn the lawsuit just yet. Soifer said they are seeking an agreement from Lang that her office will issue licenses to same-sex couples without delay and paying attorneys' fees. The lawsuit alleges that Lang violated their right to equal protection under the law, among other charges.
The marriage license for Cato and Stapleton was one of two issued by the Hood County Clerk’s office Monday.
Lisa Rozenberg told NBC 5 she and her partner were turned down last week, but had no problems obtaining one Monday afternoon.
“We went in there and no problems,” Rozenberg said, “they’re confused in there – they didn’t have us fill out the form, she did it on the computer.”
Lang posted a statement on the Hood County clerk's website saying others in her office would issue the licenses, but that "the religious doctrines to which I adhere compel me to personally refrain from issuing same-sex marriage licenses."
Lang referred questions Monday to the Texas-based Liberty Institute, which litigates cases nationwide relating to religious liberty. Institute attorney Jeremy Dys said that while the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in its 5-4 ruling last month, justices were unanimous in recognizing legal protections for public officials and others who invoke religious objections. "The Supreme Court did not overrule the First Amendment on that day," Dys said.
In a statement released earlier Monday, Soifer criticized Lang for issuing the license to Cato and Stapleton days after saying her office could not provide it because state forms were not updated with same-sex references. Dys said Lang was concerned that altering a license could result in an accusation of tampering with a government document. Lang received an opinion from the Hood County attorney over the weekend saying she could issue the license, Dys said.
"The bottom line is somebody can walk in and get a marriage license if they're entitled to a marriage license," he said. "There's no controversy here."
Hood County Attorney Lori Kaspar declined to provide details of her opinion to Lang, but noted that Lang took her advice and the license was issued. Public officials take an oath to follow the law, and if they're unable to complete that oath "due to personal conviction, then you need to get someone else to do it or to step aside," Lang said. "I think as long as people get licenses then it doesn't particularly matter who issues them."
Apparently the Supremacist Court godz didn't take this oath and neither did Pres-Z-dent Obama.
The Pink NAZIS in action, That county should declare itself a Christian Sanctuary County and refuse to condone Sodomitic unions.
Correction ... HOMOsexual couple
Gays could have a job and run businesses without harassment, but Christians could not have a job or run a business if they believe in traditional marriage
I used to argue with a gay marriage advocate that this will lead to Christian persecution and he scoffed at it
Same thing
Conservative municipalities need to declare themselves “sanctuary cities”, a la the leftist cities which have declared themselves “sanctuary cities” for illegal aliens to settle in against centuries-old established law. The conservative cities could be sanctuary cities against issuing marriage licenses to sodomites, practicing civil disobedience against a law which was just upheld on the foundation of vague emanations and penumbras, and which has deliberately misinterpreted the age-old definition of marriage.
Yes! I wish a lot of conservative-run cities would do just this, throw it in their teeth, since they’ve allowed leftist-run cities to get away with breaking the law, law established for centuries, in letting illegal aliens settle in these so-called “sanctuary cities”, flouting the law with impunity, and nothing has been done. Let conservatives take a page from this playbook and do the exact same thing, in regards to a law which far from having centuries of precedent (the sanctity of national borders), turns the centuries-old meaning of marriage on its head. It would take solidarity from a lot of conservative cities and towns, which solidarity isn’t usually a conservative strong point. If it was ever needed, it’s needed now, to get this done.
Thank you. We need to stop letting the perverts distort the language.
The gays are now looking for ways to sue whenever and whomever all due to the stupid courts redefining that law.
Since secular marriage means nothing, why don’t they just get vending machines for marriage licenses? If you want to get “really” married in a church, then you go through the church’s process. I don’t see why people are needed for this secular process when a vending machine would work fine ... or online.
a Christian Sanctuary County
Great Idea Of The Month!!!
laws? we dont got to cho ju no steenkin Laws
Yep!
Interesting. What do you think of this?
More will fold or what?
Does the city hall even bother to check whether one or both of the applicants for marriage licenses are still legally married to someone else? What steps do they take to stop bigamy from happening.
Well, in the secular world, I have to use Hillary’s aproach. What difference does it make? I don’t condone gays ... does that stop them? So why not bigamy, why not marriage to animals ...it makes no difference to me. But don’t EVER let it happen in my CHURCH!
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