America
Protests in Texas over refusal of marriage licences to homosexuals
Washington, July 3
Supporters protested in
Granbury city, capital of Hood county in the US state of Texas against
county clerk Katie Lang's decision to not issue marriage licences to
same-sex couples.
Around 50 people on Thursday protested against
Lang, threatening to file a law suit against her if she did not issue
the licences personally, Efe news agency reported.
A hundred people had also gathered in support of the county clerk in front of the courts under her administration.
The
Supreme Court last week legalised same-sex marriages throughout the US
but clerks in over 50 counties of Texas have been refusing to issue
marriage licences on religious grounds.
Lang had strongly
objected to the Supreme Court's ruling arguing "marriage is for one man
and one woman, because it did derive from the Bible".
Now faced with lawsuits and fines, Lang has ordered some of her subordinates to issue marriage licences.
Lang's
decision has been upheld by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who
earlier advised officials to disobey the Supreme Court order, if it was
against their conscience.
Officials in other southern states such
as Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama too have been refusing marriage
licences to homosexual couples.
US Court of Appeals for the fifth
Circuit in New Orleans ordered the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and
Texas, over which it has jurisdiction, to lift restrictions on same-sex
marriages and implement the top court's decision.