(WND)—A Democrat newly elected to manage the state Supreme Court in Texas is promising to turn Christians into targets and force them to adopt her LGBT beliefs.
At issue is an accommodation in court rules that allows Christians in the judicial system in the state to decline to perform same-sex ceremonies, which violate their deeply held faith precepts.
Maggie Ellis, a Democrat who openly identifies as “LGBT,” was elected to the post of state court chief justice. And she has informed the Dallas Morning News she wants to change an existing rule allowing that religious accommodation.
After a court fight, the system adopted the rule just a year ago that allows Texas judges to decline to perform ceremonies that violate their “sincerely held religious belief” without violating the rules on impartiality.
Ellis wants to return to the days of forcing Christians in the state system to violate their faith.
That basic fight already has been addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, several times.
The leftist Democrats in Colorado tried, based on their state-adopted belief system, to force a bakery artist to promote same-sex weddings. They lost at the U.S. Supreme Court.
They tried to force a web designer to promote same-sex weddings, and lost at the U.S. Supreme Court.
They tried to force counselors to promote those state-adopted LGBT beliefs. And lost at the Supreme Court.
According to a report from the Christian Post, Ellis now wants to destroy the provision in Texas that states: “It is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief.”
Ellis demanded, “One thing I’d like to do is work with the other justices to amend these orders to say either you perform all marriages, or none.”
She claims the system should return to discriminating against Christians.
In fact, she’ll need support from Republican justices, who hold a 5-4 majority on the bench, to make the change.
The report explained, “The rule stemmed from a high-profile dispute involving Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, a Christian judge who said her faith prohibits her from officiating same-sex marriage ceremonies. Despite no public complaints, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioned Hensley and accused her of violating canons in the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.”
Then the high court ruled the commission has no authority to discipline judges who decline to perform same-sex weddings for moral or religious reasons.
Hensley was awarded more than $600,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.
The Institute for Justice battled on her behalf, and spokesman Kelly Shackelford said, “It’s sad that an incoming Justice’s first public statement is one against religious freedom. We’ve won in litigation on this very issue.”
He said, “Religious freedom and accommodation are fundamental rights rooted in the history and tradition of America.”
The report explained that she will do “what we can with our power” to protect “our” LGBT community. She said she would protect that community in cases that come before her.
