A court has awarded a Texas justice of the peace more than $640,000 after she was disciplined for declining to officiate same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs."It's a great victory for people of faith.It's important for people of faith to be able to decline to participate in things that they find that are incompatible with their religious faith," Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, told Fox News Digital Tuesday in an interview.First Liberty Institute announced Friday that Judge Dianne Hensley will receive $10,000 in damages after a court found that her religious freedom rights were violated under Texas law.LOUISVILLE TO PAY $800K AFTER CHRISTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER BEATS LAW FORCING HER TO SHOOT SAME-SEX WEDDINGSJudge Dianne Hensley chose to remove herself from performing same-sex weddings due to her Christian faith.
(First Liberty Institute)The District Court of Travis County also ordered the State Commission on Judicial Conduct to pay approximately $630,000 in attorneys' fees incurred by Hensley, who was represented by First Liberty Institute and attorney Jonathan F.Mitchell."I think one of the great things about how Judge Hensley handled things here is that she not only was exercising a religious faith to say, ‘Hey, look, I can do some marriages, but not others,’ but she was also being a good neighbor.
She had a referral system in place for people whose weddings she could not perform," Sasser said.According to First Liberty, Hensley faced disciplinary action after choosing not to officiate same-sex weddings because of her Christian faith.Sasser said Hensley had established a referral system to ensure couples could still obtain wedding services from another officiant without additional cost or delay.LOUISVILLE TO PAY $800K AFTER CHRISTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER BEATS LAW FORCING HER TO SHOOT SAME-SEX WEDDINGSA lesbian couple hold hands during the annual Gay Pride rally, on June 8, 2007, Tel Aviv, Israel's most cosmopolitan city....