Christian judges in Texas are demanding the right not to marry same-sex couples.

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Christian judges in Texas are demanding the right not to marry same-sex couples. They're winning.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/06/christian-judges-in-texas-are-demanding-the-right-not-to-marry-same-couples-theyre-winning/ 🔗

Greg Owen (23 June 2026)

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct in Texas was overruled last week after it disciplined a justice of the peace in Waco for refusing to marry same-sex couples on religious grounds.

A Texas county judge ruled the commission cannot investigate, sanction, or discipline McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings because of her Christian beliefs. Hensley was awarded $10,000 in compensatory damages and $630,000 in attorney's fees after years of litigation.

"I think the agency overstepped itself, and what we saw was their bias on the issue and not the law," Hensley told KERA News in North Texas.

The origin of Hensley's suit dates back to Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision granting nationwide marriage equality.

Judges and justices of the peace are allowed, but not required, to officiate weddings in Texas. After previously declining to marry any couples following the decision, Hensley changed her mind in 2016 and said she would marry straight couples only.

She advertised that stance in a 2017 interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald, adding that she referred same-sex couples to a different judge and other nearby officiants.

The judicial conduct commission launched an investigation soon after and, in 2019, issued a public warning to Hensley that she was in violation of commission rules.

"People cannot be made — cannot be forced into participating in things that they have a religious disagreement with," First Liberty attorney Hiram Sasser said following last week's verdict.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Judges and justices of the peace are allowed, but not required, to officiate weddings in Texas. After previously declining to marry any couples following the decision, Hensley changed her mind in 2016 and said she would marry straight couples only.

It's everyone or no one. She was within her rights to decline to marry any couple.

When she changed her mind to marry only straight couples, that was discrimination. It doesn't matter what her reasons are. Discrimination is discrimination.