Katie Lang, the county clerk in Hood County, Texas, caused a large amount of controversy by posting a statement on the county clerk’s web page that said she wouldn’t be issuing same-sex marriage licenses due to her religious convictions.
Lang was following the lead of the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, who had stated the day before that county clerks could offer such refusals if they felt their religious principles were being violated. Paxton’s statement was non-binding, which meant that it was simply an opinion and not settled law, but Lang used that as a basis for her decision.
Stating that gay marriage was “morally wrong,” Lang said that other places would issue such a license, but that it was her personal decision not to do so, even though no one had even called about the situation, other than reporters.
One of the arguments for opponents of gay marriage is that business owners who are opposed to it will be forced to provides services for a gay wedding, even if they believe it offends their religious beliefs.
In recent months, a number of controversial situations involving a variety of professions showed that the situation will continue to fester for years to come. The most prominent of these was the Indiana pizzeria that stated that they wouldn’t cater a gay wedding, which caused a firestorm of protest.
However, less prominent stories included bakeries being investigated for refusing to baking a cake that opposed gay marriage or just gays in general.