When Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton went to their local courthouse in Granbury, Texas, to get married last week, Hood County Clerk Katie Lang (not to be confused with lesbian singer-songwriter K.D. Lang) turned them away, citing religious objections.
Then she called the police to try and have the men removed from the building. What followed was a showdown between antigay activists and supporters of marriage equality the law of the land.
On Thursday, dozens of “religious freedom” activists held a protest outside of the courthouse where they waves signs that read “Impeach Supreme Court” and “Protect Religious Freedom” and demanding “the biblical understanding of marriage.”
“Government should not be able to punish people because of their religious faith,” Jonathan Saenz, president of Austin-based Texas Values, which opposes same-sex marriage, preached to the crowd. “We will not be silent! We will continue to stand for God and country! We are here to support Katie Lang!”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: Another Uppity Texas County Clerk Is Denying A Gay Couple Their Marriage License
On the other side of the courthouse lawn, supporters of Cado and Stapleton held their own protest.
“We live in Granbury,” Cato told press. “We pay our taxes in Granbury. We do not feel like we have to travel somewhere else for our marriage license. We will stick it out here until we get our license in Granbury.”
And stick it out they did. On Monday, Cato and Stapleton filed a federal lawsuit against Lang for denying them their legal right to a marriage license. Knowing she had no legal ground to stand on, the clerk’s office caved, citing “software issues” for Lang’s initial refusal to perform her job.
“Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton are delighted that they finally have been issued a marriage license and can get married in their home county,” their attorneys, Jan Soifer and Austin Kaplan, said in a statement this week. “It’s a shame that they needed to hire lawyers and file a lawsuit to make that happen.”
Lang has since vowed that she will “personally refrain” from issuing licenses, but said that others in the office could do so once “the appropriate forms have been printed and supplied to my office.”
Perhaps she’d be better off looking for a new line of work. Just sayin’.
Related: Christian Government Clerk Hijacks The Law, And It’s All Caught On Tape
h/t: The Huffington Post
Kevin J Desmond
Good … it’s their right to marry if they want and I’m glad that twat Katie Lang quit.
Stephen Meeks
I hope that the suit is still active
Bill Mountrey
Do your job or leave, Katie. Get someone to explain “Separation of Church and State” to you – slowly and repeatedly until you learn.
Henry Henry
Thank G-D! Shalom and glad you were able to get our constitutional rights! Enjoy your day!
Christian T. Baggery
‘Software issues’?
I expect more from my religious fundamentalists. They need to go to the mat screaming like a two-year old who doesn’t want to put on their shoes.
cchou444
Someone should ask the religious folks, why did God choose to make his only companion a man? The verse is made in his own image……maybe God was tired of the whole normal man/woman child thing too……medical advances have given us reproduction without having sex, a process that involves good women selling their eggs and renting their bodies for the process, so where is the Christian outrage to that process? Adam and Yves can now rent the womb of Eve and she is happy with the money while the gay dudes are happy with their family…
cchou444
Francis, will you marry me?
Gerald GeeLocke Panuthos
Good! Now Fire that asshole bitch and put her in jail for obstruction of justice!
Ander
It is my sincerely held belief that I should not be forced to participate in paying taxes toward the salary of a government employee that has chosen the bigot lifestyle.
Realitycheck
They should take legal action against the city and Bigoted K Lang to get their legal expenses reimbursed.
Curty
Refusing to do your job should be automatically grounds for termination. Who is her boss? She is not in church this is government, court of law. Leave your religious nonsense at home. My mother is a state worker. She works for STD department of mental health, she also is a sunday school teacher, choir director and a deaconess. She helps many people who have fornicated, committed adultery when they need referrals for treatment. She leaves her personal views at home and does her job. That is what these people need to do or find another job that doesn’t outlaw discrimination. Same sex marriage is the law of whole 50 states now. Been almost two weeks. Do your job or fire them.
Skyler Weston Mays
they girl in this pic looks sad
James Hart
Texas? In 5 years this couple will be Republican.
Ron Jankowski
Rule of law, We are a nation of laws. We are a democracy not a Theocracy. ISIS wants a theocracy.
Finrod
Begone, Ms. Lang, before somebody drops a house on you.
Javier Rodriguez Fontanez
Give her a piece of the gay wedding cake.
Xzamilio
Software issues, my ass… you know fundies hate science.
SashineB
“Knowing she had no legal ground to stand on, the clerk’s office caved, citing “software issues” for Lang’s initial refusal to perform her job.” So, on top of not doing her job of serving the public (the people who pay her salary), they’re blaming “software issues” — which is lying. And any good buybull-believing xian should know that lying is a great sin. Rev. 21:8 says “ALL liars … will burn in the lake of sulphur”. That’s ALL liars — and not “all liars, with the exception of evangelical people”.
Wilson W Wong
all it took was to call the cops and a viral video!
Rob Weaver
I guess this clerk finally decided that her paycheck was more important than some homophobe’s interpretation of millenial-old folk tales.
Luis H. Lopez
You must still file a lawsuit for emotional distress !!!
Transiteer
Equal Marriage is a Federal Law of the Land. Her refusal to issue the License should have led to her immediate DISMISSAL (fired), for refusing to do HER JOB. There is NO controversy here – fire the cow and issue the Licence. Maybe the church will give her a job cleaning out the toilet and all that holy shit thats created there.
Chuck Jones
I hope they continue with their Federal lawsuit. Katie Lang and Hood County need to pay for her violating the law, and she needs to be fired for not upholding her constitutional duties.
Rodney Taylor
If it is the law now, then there should be consequences for those that work for the government and break the law. It’s really not rocket science
Maximus Alegria
God SMITE!
cajuninvegas
@Stephen Meeks: From what I read on another article, the attorneys and the plaintiffs are keeping the suit in tack to ensure the clerk continues to issue licenses.
cajuninvegas
By the way gentlemen, when you read an articles like this and post comments calling them names, then you become no better than them. We as a community must rise above them and refrain from name calling. Why go downstairs to their level when the view is so much better upstairs where we are?!?!?!?
Cam
“Lang has since vowed that she will “personally refrain” from issuing licenses, but said that others in the office could do so once “the appropriate forms have been printed and supplied to my office.””
__________________
She just publicly stated that she is refusing to do all of the tasks required of her job. Therefore she is stating her refusal to do her job. In any office those are valid grounds for termination.
So fire the bigot.
Cam
@cajuninvegas: said….
“By the way gentlemen, when you read an articles like this and post comments calling them names, then you become no better than them.”
__________________
Your moral equivalency is not only disgusting but dangerous. Sorry, but if I have to choose which is worse, “Denying somebody their civil rights”, or “calling them a name”, one is much worse than the other.
I mean this in as nice a way as possible, but pull your head out of your ass and think before you speak. You can ask people for a polite discussion but comparing the two and calling them the same is beyond idiotic.
Realitycheck
@cajuninvegas: Because with your thinking we would be all in chains, one must speak up against injustice and oppression and that involves all kind of languages.
It is a must to tell off that kind of brainwashed zealots with the strongest possible language because that is the only way they will not repeat the same offense.
Linda Hopp-Hill
Good for them, Congrat’s, now when can we expect this clerk to be in the unemployment line?
Steven Jones
If she can’t do the job she was hired for don’t pay her and see how long her beliefs last then.
Liam
@cchou444: Wasn’t it St. Thomas Aquinas who spent a lot if time trying to determine why God would create woman as man’s helpmate rather than another man who’d really have been of help?
NoCagada
@cajuninvegas: Martin Luther King, Jr, you are NOT.
James Wilbanks
Congratulations !!
Kishan South
Ha, say no again, cunt!