Jeff Mateer is an appointee of Attorney General Ken Paxton who, despite the law and the Supreme Court ruling regarding the legalization of nationwide marriage equality, told Texas county clerks that discrimination against gay couples on the grounds of religion is perfectly acceptable under his watch. This came to light during the now-infamous Kim Davis fiasco — the Kentucky County Clerk who made a martyr of herself by going to jail rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Paxton said that “numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs.”
Paxton goes on to say of his decision to appoint Mateer:
“The addition of Jeff Mateer as First Assistant Attorney General will have immediate impact on the agency with positive long-term effects that will strengthen our work for Texas for generations,” stated Ken Paxton. “Jeff brings a wealth of real-world experience as a seasoned trial and appellate attorney with broad and varied litigation experience spanning over 25 years of legal practice.”
Mateer is of the same opinion that Paxton is, and says of the separation of church and state while speaking to college students:
“I’ll hold up my hundred-dollar bill and say, ‘for the first student who can cite me the provision in the Constitution that guarantees the separation of church and state verbatim, I’ll give this hundred dollar bill. … It’s not there. … The protections of the First Amendment protect us from government, not to cause government to persecute us because of our religious beliefs.”
Here is a video of those statements:
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