Second Oregon Judge Stops Performing Weddings After Gay Marriage Ruling

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A second Oregon judge reportedly stopped performing marriages after a federal court struck down the state’s ban on gay marriage, citing his personal religious beliefs.

Washington County Judge Thomas Kohl told The Oregonian he made the “personal choice” after a federal judge overturned the ban last year.

“Last summer for personal faith-based reasons, I decided to not perform weddings as a judge,” Kohl wrote in an email to The Oregonian. The judge has long been known for public displays of faith, and has performed weddings for years, according to the paper.

The news comes days after a state ethics investigation into another anti-gay marriage judge found Marion County Judge Vance Day displayed a photo of Adolf Hitler in the county courthouse. Day was the first Oregon judge to say publicly that he would not marry gay couples because of his religious beliefs.

Under Oregon state law, judges, county clerks, and other officials can perform weddings but are not required to, casting uncertainty on the legality of Kohl’s decision.

Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has led a highly publicized battle against granting marriage licenses to gay couples, and spent five days in jail for repeatedly refusing to comply with federal law.

Notable Replies

  1. I cannot wait for defendents sentenced by this judge to start filing motions for their cases to be reviewed on the basis of not receiving an impartial arbiter of the law, since personal prejudices and a willingness to disobey the law seems to be an issue here.

  2. Get rid of him. He’s just declared publicly that he’s incapable of being impartial. Unfit to sit the bench.

  3. And THIS is the reason we need to hit back at these “refuseniks” as hard as possible. They see the spotlight that Davis garnered and think they can position themselves on the cross as well. They’ve got to learn the hard way that the worst that can come out of this isn’t martyrdom.

  4. I presume the judge would recuse himself from a murder trial wherein a man killed his unfaithful wife and her lover upon discovering them in bed together?

    Deuteronomy 22:22 - If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, [both] the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

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