For all that’s said about Texas, there are still elements of the state that do not necessarily mix with conservative values about the Constitution. For McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, she found out the hard way that the First Amendment’s religious protections only go so far in The Lone Star State.
Texas law does not require judges to officiate weddings, but they are free to do so if they wish. Hensley noticed that after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision in 2015, which paved the way for same-sex marriages across the country, most judges in Waco and McLennan County simply stopped officiating weddings. This meant that same-sex couples wishing to get married would have to travel to be married, which would end up costing them more.
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