Gay Dallas Judge Won’t Perform Straight Marriages

An openly gay Dallas County Judge is now refusing to preside over straight couples getting married. Why? Because she can't get married. According to NBC-DFW:

Dallas County Judge Tonya Parker says she won't perform marriage ceremonies until gay couples can wed.

During a Feb. 21 meeting, Parker told the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas that while she has the power to perform legal marriage ceremonies in her court, she will not.

“I use it as my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage inequality in this state because I feel like I have to tell them why I’m turning them away,” Parker said. “So I usually will offer them something along the lines of, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality, and until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people.’ And it’s kind of oxymoronic for me to perform ceremonies that can’t be performed for me, so I’m not going to do it."

Well, okay. I'm sure there are many other Judges in Dallas County that couples can go to. To me this is a silly way to protest. Perform marriages and show that you respect all people.... just like you want to be treated.