October 2016 Church & State - October 2015

Wyo. Judge May Lose Job Over Same-Sex Marriage Refusal

  AU admin

A Wyoming judge who says she won’t perform same-sex marriage ceremonies because of her religious beliefs is on the verge of losing her job after the state’s supreme court recommended she be dismissed. 

The recommendation came after Judge Ruth Neely of Pinedale told the Pinedale Roundup that her religious beliefs could conflict with her job duties. In a letter to the state’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, she compared homosexuality to alcoholism.

“I can no more officiate at a same-sex wedding than I can buy beer for the alcoholic,” Neely wrote.

Her lawyer told the court that removing Neely from the bench would violate her First Amendment rights to religious freedom, but the commission maintains that Neely violated ethics rules that require her by law to judge without prejudice and bias.

“Judges do not enjoy the same freedom to proselytize their religious beliefs as ordinary citizens,” the commission said. 

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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