Government employee rrfuding to issue marriage license to gay

The town attorney Robert Subik said at the time the application was rejected because they didn't make an appointment and because of Eriksen's religious beliefs. Also that year, the agency issued an order that found a marriage venue in Rensselaer County in the Albany area had discriminated against a same-sex couple by denying them the opportunity to have their wedding there.

If clerks were allowed to discriminate against couples based on a religious objection, the consequences could affect many types of couples. The state agency said the Root settlement is the latest case involving gay discrimination. The law did not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples but says states will need to recognize marriages from elsewhere in the country.

Thank you. It also protects interracial marriages. The settlement Friday also requires the town to adopt new non-discriminatory policies "that will ensure that all individuals in the Town have an equal opportunity to obtain a marriage license," the state said.

A day later, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Division of Human Rights to open an investigation, saying the clerk's decision was an apparent violation of state law, which Cuomo championed in and shepherded through the state Legislature. Such a question necessarily involves a variety of rights.

New York legalized same-sex marriage in , and the U. Supreme Court in struck down any state's ban on same-sex marriages. Earlier this year, the town paid the settlement to the couple, and Eriksen issued a public apology in April at a town board meeting, saying, according to the Gazette : "I'm sorry for any harm or inconvenience my actions caused the couple.

Berger to Introduce Legislation Protecting First Amendment Rights. The clerk, Subik said, recommended the men come back when the deputy clerk was available or go somewhere else. Root residents Dylan Toften and Thomas Hurd sought to obtain a marriage license from Eriksen, but even though the couple had the proper documents, Eriksen refused to process their application.

The agency said the law "mandates that no application for a marriage license be denied on the grounds that the parties are of the same sex and prohibits government entities from treating individuals seeking to get married differently because of their sexual orientation.

Clerks could try to refuse to provide licenses because they don’t approve of marriage for couples who are interfaith, interracial, same sex, or divorcees. INTRODUCTION As more and more states recognize same-sex marriages, government employees who have religious objections to these marriages are seeking methods by which to refuse services to same-sex couples.

ALBANY — A decision last year by a town clerk to reject a marriage license to a same-sex couple due to her religious beliefs has become costly for the small town. With this background in mind, the question is whether a clerk or a clerk's employees may refuse to issue a same-sex marriage license if doing so would violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court has now declared a right under the Fourteenth Amendment for same-sex couples to be married on the same terms as accorded. More: New York to ban gay conversion therapy. More: Same-sex marriage in New York: Five years later. For example, a government clerk in North Carolina resigned after being asked to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In , the agency said it reached a settlement with Victor, Ontario County, after it allegedly denied a spot on a local planning board to an attorney because she was gay.