An atheist couple was planning to get married later this month in a secular ceremony in Kentucky. However, their plans hit a snag when the local judge told them he doesn’t do non-religious ceremonies.
Mandy Heath and Jon Sellers were engaged in July 2015, and are slated to get married next week in Trigg County, a mostly rural county in southwestern Kentucky. She told Hermant Mehta, who runs the Friendly Atheist blog on Patheos, that they planned to have Trigg County Judge-Executive Hollis Alexander take care of the red tape on July 21 before holding a family ceremony the next day. For most couples, this is just a formality.
Heath managed to get a marriage license from the county clerk, and specifically requested that the wedding be secular since both she and Sellers are atheists. A few days later, Alexander called Heath with some bad news–he doesn’t perform secular weddings. Specifically, he told Heath, “I include God in my ceremonies, and I won’t do one without him.” He suggested that they travel to a nearby county instead.
Naturally, Heath and Sellers were flabbergasted at this callous act of discrimination. They calmed down long enough to call the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Earlier this week, FFRF lawyer Andrew Seidel wrote Alexander and informed him in no uncertain terms that his actions were a blatant First Amendment violation. Seidel told Alexander that by not conducting secular weddings, Alexander was effectively imposing an unconstitutional religious test on the people of Trigg County.
“By conditioning the receipt of a marriage license from Trigg County on an agreement to have a religious ceremony, the County is violating the rights of nonreligious couples to equal access to government benefits.”
He further reminded Alexander that under Kentucky law, he is the sole “secular option” to get married in Trigg County, and therefore any ceremonies he conducts must be secular by default. He asked for “written assurances” that he not turn away non-religious couples in the future.
Alexander’s only comment on the matter so far came in the form of a chat with Mehta. He not only confirmed that he doesn’t perform secular weddings, but won’t perform LGBT weddings either. According to his official site, Alexander claims to be a Democrat. I say “claims” because a real Democrat would not turn away people on account of their religion or lack thereof.
I know what some of you are thinking–Alexander at least had the decency to suggest Heath and Sellers go to another county. But what if the judge in that county turns them down? Additionally, as Seidel already mentioned, Alexander is effectively telling the people of Trigg County that they have to be religious in order to get married there–and anyone who isn’t might as well sit down and shut up.
Situations like this are exactly what the First Amendment was intended to prevent. Has Alexander forgotten that he is sworn to serve all of the people in his county, not just the religious ones? Perhaps we should ask him–politely, of course. Drop him an email at tcjudge at att dot net, or buzz him on Facebook.
