The ceremony in question was held last month when Syracuse City Court Judge Felicia Pitts-Davis was on the bench on Nov. 16 when two weddings were scheduled. The first was between a man and a woman, and the second was between two women. While Pitts-Davis conducted the first wedding, she requested a different judge conduct the second one, telling Judge Mary Anne Doherty she did not want to do the second one due to her religious beliefs, according to a report.

“The Unified Court System is aware of the allegations and has referred the matter to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct,” New York state’s Unified Court System told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated by the UCS. Under New York law, Judges are authorized, but not obligated, to perform marriages.  Judges who choose to perform marriages may not unlawfully discriminate when deciding which couples they will marry. Judges with questions about the propriety of their proposed conduct in these matters are encouraged to seek guidance from judicial supervisors and the UCS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics.”

Upon contacting the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, the CJC declined to comment, citing “a strict confidentiality statute.”

The Washington Examiner has also contacted Judge Pitts-Davis’s office to allow her to tell her side of the story.

The two women who were wedded by Judge Doherty, Shawntay and Nicorra Davis, said that while they are not interested in any repercussions against Pitts-Davis, they did not want future same-sex couples to be declined by judges in the future. The Marriage Equality Act became law in New York state in 2011.

Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion has called for Pitts-Davis’s resignation, adding that the state’s Office of Court Administration should “promptly suspend her” should she choose not to resign.

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) wrote on X that judges “cannot pick and choose who deserves a wedding” but did not explicitly join Marion in calling for Pitts-Davis’s resignation. The Washington Examiner has reached out to her office for further comment.

Marriage equality is a fundamental right in New York. No one should be subject to hate or discrimination simply because of who they love.

Any judge willing to officiate a wedding in their courtroom cannot pick and choose who deserves a wedding. https://t.co/Bema6Ubh6W

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 4, 2024

Pitts-Davis isn’t the first court official to refuse to bind a same-sex couple legally. In 2015, Kim Davis, a clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, cited religious beliefs for denying marriage licenses to LGBT couples. She served five days in jail and was ordered to pay $260,000 in attorney fees earlier this year. Davis is in the process of appealing that order.

Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, finished a lengthy legal battle over his decision in 2012 not to make a cake for a same-sex couple, citing his religious beliefs. In October, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled to dismiss the lawsuit brought against Phillips.