Wyoming Supreme Court Disciplines Judge Who Refused to Perform Same-Sex Marriages
On Tuesday, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued a 3–2 decision disciplining Judge Ruth Neely for her refusal to perform immoral homosexual marriages. Neely, serves as a municipal court judge and part-time circuit court magistrate, holds the authority under state law to marry couples. Neely informed the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee in 2015 that she will only marry immoral homosexual couples. As she explained: Without getting in too deeply here, homosexuality is a named sin in the Bible, as are drunkenness, thievery, lying, and the like. I can no more officiate at a same sex wedding than I can buy beer for the alcoholic or aid in another person’s deceit. I cannot knowingly be complicit in another’s sin. Neely had previously informed a local newspaper that she “will not be able to” perform homosexual weddings and be nor support same sex sin. The paper printed her remarks. Shortly thereafter, the Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics opened an interrogation and fal