[JURIST] North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory [official website] vetoed legislation [SB 2 summary] Thursday that would allow officials to avoid performing same-sex marriages. The bill, which would permit court officials and magistrates to avoid any marriage duties if they have a sincere religious objection, was passed on Thursday by both houses. A three-fifths majority vote in the legislature is required to override the veto. McCrory released a statement [press release] saying that “No public official who voluntarily swears to support and defend the Constitution and to discharge all duties of their office should be exempt from upholding that oath; therefore, I will veto Senate Bill 2.”

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, as well as freedom of religious practice, remain controversial issues in the US. Nineteen states have enacted some variety of religious freedom laws, most modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act [text] signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1993. In Louisiana, the legislature rejected [JURIST report] a religious objections bill earlier this month that was pushed by Governor Bobby Jindal [official website]. In April Indiana Governor Mike Pence [official website] signed into law an amended version of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) [text], which critics argued gave business owners the legal right to deny [JURIST report] service based on sexual orientation. Pence signed Indiana’s original controversial version into law after the state Senate approved [JURIST report] the bill by a 40-10 vote.