Magistrate Who Would Rather Quit Than Officiate Same-Sex Marriages ‘At Any Cost’ Did – and Just Won a Huge Settlement

‘When You Have Convictions About Something, You’ve Drawn Your Line in the Sand’ 

A North Carolina magistrate who said she would rather quit than officiate marriages for same-sex couples did just that in 2014, and then sued the state. She just won a $300,000 settlement.

In 2014 Gayle Myrick was a 64-year old magistrate when the federal courts ruled same-sex couples had the legal right to marry in North Carolina. 

“When you have convictions about something, you’ve drawn your line in the sand,” she told the The Charlotte-Observer. “It (marrying gay couples) was not a consideration to me at any cost.”

The Observer noted Myrick was one of six magistrates who chose to leave. Some were paid over $50,000 a year.

Before resigning, she asked her supervisor, a judge, for an accommodation. Upon being told one could not be made for her, she resigned – and then sued the state. She won in late January, and the details have now been made public, as The Associated Press reports.

“An administrative law judge,” the AP notes, “ruled last year that Myrick’s employer failed to accommodate her religious beliefs as required under federal employment law. The judge, Michael Devine, found that her departure was not truly voluntary because declining to perform gay marriages would have subjected her to removal.”

The judge was working on behalf of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In a statement Myrick said, “I have always wanted to find a way to protect everyone’s dignity.” 

“I didn’t want to stop anyone from getting married,” Myrick, now 68, told The Washington Post. “I also knew my religious convictions would not allow me to perform those marriages personally.”

In 2014 an different North Carolina magistrate refused to marry a same-sex couple who had been together over 30 years. “I won’t be performing your marriage because of my religious beliefs,” the magistrate told the couple.

The following year North Carolina Republicans passed a passed a bill that allows magistrates to refuse to marry same-sex couples, based on their religious beliefs.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently ordered all U.S. attorneys to install “religious freedom” coordinators, and is prioritizing religious freedom cases above others, especially those related to LGBT civil rights.

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Image: Screenshot via WLOS