Hood County, TX Clerk Katie Lang's refusal to issue a marriage license to same-sex couple Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton based on her (ostensibly) sincerely-held religious beliefs is going to cost taxpayers a pretty penny—nearly forty-four million pennies, in fact.
This is the objecting county clerk (it's hard to keep track of them; GoFundMe should create a special category called "Wingnut Welfare") who called the cops on the couple and ordered the news media to leave a public building.
Follow me below the rococo rendering of that thing on Donald Trump's head for more.
Ah! But someone else in the office would issue the license, and everyone would be happy! Messrs. Cato and Stapleton would get their marriage license, and Ms. Lang would have the satisfaction of metaphorically smacking the gays in the face and kicking in their teeth through her act of discrimination, which is apparently legal—a cherished Constitutional right that must never, ever, ever be questioned.
Alas, Ms. Lang claimed she had no forms and wouldn't for three weeks. But when Messrs. Cato and Stapleton (who had been showing up daily to try and obtain a marriage license as provided by their own Constitutional rights) "told her they downloaded the forms online, printed them and then filled them out—in her office—she refused to accept them."
Eleven days later, the office issued the license, but Cato and Stapleton didn't drop their lawsuit.
As a result, it appears the County will likely have to pay the attorneys' fees, since "despite the fact Jim and Joe sued Ms. Lang and not Hood County, it was county attorneys who reached the agreement, not private counsel."
So, go for it, homophobic rogue sincerely religious clerks. The Constitution, Civil Rights Act, and EEOC are on your side. Just be aware that the potential for costly litigation, as manifested here, places a substantial financial burden on your employer—and, ultimately, taxpayers, many (if not most) of whom have no objection to same-sex marriage.