Texas Judge Refusing to Marry Same-Sex Couples Can Continue Case

A Texas judge will finally get an answer on whether she can refuse to marry same-sex couples for religious reasons, five years after the state’s judicial conduct commission warned her that it reflected poorly on the judiciary.

Judge Dianne Hensley of Waco, Texas, is entitled to a court’s review of her practice for choosing which weddings to officiate, a Texas appeals court ruled Friday.

Her challenge is ripe because even though the judicial commission withdrew its public warning, it didn’t give Hensley permission to choose to marry only opposite sex couples, the Court of Appeals, Third District, said in the opinion.

During arguments on April 23, the all-Democratic Austin appeals court hinted that Hensley deserved a clear answer.

“Who’s to say what the commission will do going forward?” Justice Chari Kelly said.

The Austin court got to decide the issue after the Texas Supreme Court last year ruled Hensley could challenge the commission’s warning through the courts system rather than administratively.

Hensley, a Christian, caught the attention of the judicial commission in 2018 after she told a reporter she won’t marry same-sex couples and instead will refer them to other judges, a practice she asserts is protected by the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The commission countered that the refusal-and-referral system is problematic for a judge because it expresses partiality against same-sex couples.

The case now heads back to a trial court.

The case is Hensley v. State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Tex. App., 3d Dist., No. 03-21-00305-cv, 5/30/25.