Christian Judge Wins $300,000 in Gay Marriage Case

Church Militant ^ | 2/9/18 | David Nussman

[marshmallow]

North Carolina pays settlement to former magistrate who resigned over conscience

RALEIGH, N.C. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Christian judge in North Carolina reached a $300,000 settlement with the state in a lawsuit for her conscience rights.

The settlement took place in November 2017 but was not public knowledge until this Wednesday.

When gay marriage was legalized in North Carolina in 2014, Union County magistrate Gayle Myrick prepared a resignation letter but met with her supervisors to ask them to accommodate her religious beliefs. (This was about a year before the Supreme Court approved of same-sex marriage for the whole nation in 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges.)

The state government would not allow accommodations, however, Myrick was pressured into resigning in October 2014, just weeks before her retirement benefits began.

The $300,000 settlement covered Myrick's attorney fees, lost pay and retirement benefits.

"When same-sex marriage became legal," Myrick said in an online video, "I knew because of my religious convictions I would not be able to perform the ceremonies."

She wanted to act on her sincerely held religious beliefs in a way that would not inconvenience the state, nor homosexual couples. She said she and her supervisor planned to "change my schedule so that I did not do any wedding ceremonies at all."

[Mrs. Don-o]

Good. The First Amendment clearly requires the law to accommodate believers, i.e. to achieve its (the state’s) legitimate goals, if possible, in such a way that it imposes the least burden or disruption to the religious conscientious objector.

[MarvinStinson]

Myrick was pressured into resigning in October 2014, just weeks before her retirement benefits began.

[fwdude]

The pendulum is slowly beginning the swing the other way. Let’s pray it continues.