Commissioners in Williamson County, Texas have been giving a religious-based test to applicants seeking work as county constables, reported RawStory.
Robert Lloyd is a 25-year police veteran who now teaches high school. In 2013, he applied for a job at the Williamson County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office. During the interview, commissioners asked Lloyd about his opinions on gay marriage, abortion, and religion in general. He filed a lawsuit against the county, and a Texas judge recently approved the suit to move forward.
“I was shocked,” said Lloyd. “I was sick to my stomach when I left because I had never believed that things like this in government would go on.”
This is blatant, small-town church politics. The Williamson county commissioners were cherry-picking applicants and only hired people who fit within their religious belief system. Some county commissioners actually admitted to asking such questions to job applicants looking to work for the county.
“If you don’t go to the church that they go to, you can’t have a job as a public employee in Williamson County,” said Lloyd’s attorney Wayne Krause Yang noted.
Two other applicants have implicated Williamson county in discriminating against people over their religious beliefs. The county has spent $200,000 on its legal defense, which is probably taxpayer money.
