Texas Judge Who Refused Same Sex Weddings Now Seeks To Overturn Marriage Equality
The case revives conservative efforts to roll back marriage equality under the guise of religious freedom.
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A justice of the peace from Waco, Texas who made national headlines for refusing to officiate same sex weddings is now asking the federal courts to dismantle marriage equality altogether.
Judge Dianne Hensley filed a lawsuit last week against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, again escalating a years-long dispute that began after the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges. The case legalized same sex marriage nationwide and required states to treat queer couples the same as straight ones under the law.
Hensley’s lawsuit argues that Obergefell itself was unconstitutional and should be overturned. In the filing, her attorney Jonathan Mitchell wrote that “the federal judiciary has no authority to recognize or invent ‘fundamental’ constitutional rights.” Mitchell acknowledged that the lower court hearing the case does not have the power to reverse Supreme Court precedent, but made clear that the goal is to push the issue back to the high court.
Related: Judges In Texas May Now Legally Decline To Officiate Same-Sex Weddings
Hensley first stopped performing weddings in 2015, saying that officiating same sex marriages conflicted with her conservative Christian beliefs. The following year, she resumed marrying opposite sex couples while turning away gay couples and handing them a list of alternative officiants, some located hours away.
That selective refusal prompted an investigation by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in 2018. In 2019, the commission issued a public warning, stating that Hensley’s conduct cast doubt “on her capacity to act impartially to persons appearing before her as a judge due to the person’s sexual orientation.”
Related: Supreme Court Rejects Call To Overturn Same-Sex Marriage
Hensley sued, arguing that the commission violated her religious freedom. While her initial case was dismissed and later upheld on appeal, the controversy continued to ripple. Last fall, the Texas Supreme Court quietly amended the judicial code of conduct to add a new line stating, “It is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief.”
Rather than limiting her challenge to state rules, Hensley’s new federal lawsuit takes aim at marriage equality itself. The strategy mirrors recent efforts by other conservative officials. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples and later asked the Court to overturn Obergefell. The justices declined without comment.
For LGBTQ people in Texas and across the country, Hensley’s lawsuit is a reminder that marriage equality remains a target. While the Supreme Court has so far refused to revisit Obergefell, the legal and political movement to undo it has not slowed. For same sex couples who have built lives, families, and legal protections on the promise of equality, that reality continues to feel both exhausting and deeply personal.
