The Republican Attorney General of South Dakota wants to accommodate the religious objections of clerks who hate the gays.
By now you probably recognize the man on the right in the photo above as Ken Paxton, the Republican Attorney General of Texas who is facing a possible first degree felony indictment by the federal government, and an ethics complaint related to his instructions to Texas county clerks about not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples if they feel it infringe on their religious beliefs.Â
So it should come as no surprise that the man on the left in the photo, South Dakota Republican Attorney General Marty Jackley is very comfortable being photographed with Paxton, since both Tea Party Republicans have now told their county clerks it’s A-OK to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if it would violate their deeply held religious beliefs. Because, Jesus.
“The Supreme Court’s decision and analysis on equal protection and due process must coexist with the constitutional right to freedom of religion,” Attorney General Marty Jackley told the Associated Press last week. “And in South Dakota, we will work to respect both in compliance with the court’s directive.”
The Advocate notes that “Jackley proposed what he called a ‘commonsense solution’ to balancing the religious freedom of county clerks with the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry. If a county employee does not want to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple, that employee can ask another employee in the office to step in and issue the license, he suggested. Jackley indicated that if every clerk in a given county refuses to issue a same-sex marriage license, the state itself could issue the license, according to the AP.”
AG Jackely did not respond to our inquiry if it would be OK for South Dakota county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses based on their deeply held religious beliefs to interracial couples, since the exact same arguments, based on religion, were used 50 years ago too.Â
Â
Image via Facebook