A judge in New York state reportedly refused to officiate a wedding for a same-sex couple immediately after she officiated a wedding for an opposite-sex couple. Now Democrats are calling on her to resign.
Judge Felicia Pitts Davis in Syracuse was scheduled to perform two weddings on November 16, 2024. She officiated the first one which involved a straight couple but refused to perform the second one, which involved two women, according to sources who spoke with The Post-Standard, a newspaper for the Syracuse area.
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After Pitts Davis refused to perform the wedding, another city court judge – Judge Mary Anne Doherty – was brought into the court to officiate.
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Shawntay and Niccora Davis, ages 33 and 29, were the two women who tried to get married, and they said Pitts Davis performed the opposite-sex couple’s wedding. They say the judge got emotional and cried during the straight couple’s wedding.
Then, when it was the Davises’ turn to get married, she just left the room without saying anything. Judge Doherty entered the courtroom ten minutes later and performed the Davises’ wedding.
Shawntay Davis said the whole situation was “real weird.”
“She looked at us with this look on her face and swished her hair,” the Davises told NewsChannel 9. “She just walked off. Like, she was just disgusted or something.”
But the couple didn’t know what to make of the situation until two weeks later when they were contacted by a journalist and learned that court officials were trying to keep Pitts Davis’ actions secret, not even acknowledging that any weddings were performed that day.
The Post-Standard said that, for two weeks, they couldn’t get anyone to answer their questions about what happened until they got a statement from the state Office of Court Administration that said: “We are aware of the allegation and have referred the matter to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.”
A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration said that Pitts Davis is accused of violating the organization’s nondiscrimination standard, which specifically states that “judges who choose to perform marriages may not unlawfully discriminate when deciding which couples they will marry.”
The Commission on Judicial Conduct will not confirm or deny the existence of a complaint against Pitts Davis, saying that such complaints aren’t made public unless they result in disciplinary action against a judge.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh (Independence Party of New York) both denounced Pitts Davis.
“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,” Hochul wrote on social media.
“Judge Pitts-Davis’ refusal to perform a wedding ceremony for a same-sex couple doesn’t align with this vision and, importantly, doesn’t comply with state law,” Walsh said in a statement.
Onondaga County Democratic Chairperson Max Ruckdeschel called on Pitts Davis to resign, saying that the discrimination “disqualifies her from any future consideration for our endorsement.” Syracuse is located in Onondaga County, New York.
Shawntay Davis said that Judge Doherty, the one who performed their marriage in the end, talked to them about how she herself has been married to a woman since the early 2000s and now has twins with her wife.
“We really appreciate and thank [Doherty] for her doing that,” she said.
Judge Pitts Davis has not commented on the allegations. Her husband, Alfonso Davis, told a reporter that the allegations are “bulls**t” and not to call again.
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