Texas attorney general says government employees can refuse same-sex marriages

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Government employees in Texas have been told they will not be required to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples if doing so violates their religious beliefs.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made that declaration on Sunday, two days after the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve equal treatment and can marry in all 50 states.

Mr Paxton called the Supreme Court’s decision “lawless” and claimed that he needs to protect the religious freedoms of government employees in Texas.

“We find that although it fabricated a new constitutional right in 2015, the Supreme Court did not diminish, overrule, or call into question the First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion that formed the first freedom in the Bill of Rights,” he said in a statement reported in the Washington Post.

Even with the attorney general’s blessing, government officials who refuse to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple could face legal action. Mr Paxton has advised magistrates and county clerks who object to same-sex marriage on a religious basis to delegate responsibilities to other employees.

“Public officials have no constitutional or statutory right to discriminate in providing public services,” Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told the Post.

“This opinion is wrong on the law, and it does a disservice to officials who need clear, reliable guidance about their duty to follow the law and to provide marriage licenses to all qualified couples.”

Prior to last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision, same-sex marriage was illegal in 14 states, Texas being among those.

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