A Texas court has awarded $640,000 to a Waco, Texas, judge who sued the state after it disciplined her for refusing to perform same-sex weddings because of her evangelical Christian faith.
A district court awarded Judge Dianne Hensley $10,000 in damages and $630,000 in attorney fees in a case that began in 2019 when she received a public warning from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct over her refusal to perform same-sex weddings, which are allowed nationwide under order of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Dianne Hensley
Hensley, who has served with the state chapter of a D.C.-based conservative group, Concerned Women for America of Texas, was defended by First Liberty Institute, a Christian legal group that prioritizes religious freedom for evangelicals. First Liberty cited the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act in its arguments.
“Judge Hensley always adhered to the law and the legal guidance provided by the attorney general of Texas,” said a First Liberty spokesperson. “We are grateful that this case has concluded and that Judge Hensley was vindicated.”
The dispute goes back to 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right in all 50 states, ending a patchwork system, of differing laws in various states.
Texas judges are allowed but not compelled to perform any weddings. After the Obergefell decision, all Waco judges and justices of the peace stopped performing all weddings so they wouldn’t be required to perform same-sex weddings.
In 2016, Hensley decided she would perform heterosexual marriages while declining to perform same-sex weddings herself. But she says she was concerned enough about same-sex couples that she created a referral system of officiants who would perform the weddings in her stead.
In a video from First Liberty, Hensley and Michael, a gay man, discuss her late brother Joe, who was part of the Texas gay community. Michael, who came to know Hensley as Joe was dying of ALS, described her as warm and welcoming to gay people even though she opposed same-sex marriage.
She received no complaints from the public about her policy, but in 2019 the State Commission on Judicial Conduct warned that her policy violated state rules on impartiality. She responded with a lawsuit defending her policy.
Last year, during her ongoing legal battle with the state, Hensley sought to have a federal court outlaw same-sex marriage.
As BNG reported last year, the Texas Supreme court weighed in, saying state law allows judges to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages based on religious freedom claims, generating complains from gay Christians.
Hensley’s legal battle is now over, but a separate legal challenge continues.
“This ruling is nothing less than state-sanctioned discrimination and a betrayal of the fundamental promise of equality under the law,” said Neil Thomas, senior pastor at Cathedral of Hope in Dallas. “This decision gives prejudice a platform and power it does not deserve.”
Hensley’s legal battle is now over, but a separate legal challenge continues. Texas justices of the peace who say they quit performing any marriages so they wouldn’t be required to officiate at same-sex unions have sued the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The justices of the peace are seeking millions in damages in lost income from the marriages they didn’t perform because they were trying to avoid disciplinary action.
Christian Judge William P. Brandt claims he lost income of more than $500,000 due to his not performing any marriages since 2018. He filed a class action suit to recover the losses he and other justices suffered.
First Liberty is among a handful of legal groups pursuing cases to carve out legal protections for officials who are opposed to same-sex unions.
First Liberty is co-counsel on a New York case seeking to protect Catholic nuns who operate a nursing home from state laws requiring long-term care facilities in New York give patients access to bathrooms, hospital beds and other amenities that align with their gender identities.
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Largest gay church pushes back on Texas Supreme Court