Judge Felicia Pitts Davis – Photo: Felicia Pitts Davis
A grand jury concluded that Syracuse City Judge Felicia Pitts-Davis discriminated against a lesbian couple by refusing to marry them and then attempted to conceal her actions, recommending that she be removed from the bench.
In a June 5 ruling, the Appellate Division of the Fourth Judicial Department ordered that the December 2024 grand jury report be unsealed. The report was made public over the weekend.
“Judge Pitts-Davis laid bare her bigotry towards homosexual people and her willingness to put her personal feelings above her oath as an official charged with discharging the law,” the report states.
In late 2024, Pitts-Davis performed a marriage ceremony for a straight couple, becoming emotional and crying during the proceedings. She then left the courtroom without explanation before the lesbian couple’s ceremony.
The couple, Shawntay and Niccora Davis, told Syracuse-based ABC affiliate WSYR that Pitts-Davis barely acknowledged their presence and characterized her attitude toward them as “rude.”
“She looked at us with this look on her face and swished her hair,” the Davises said. “She just walked off. Like, she was just disgusted or something.”
Under New York law, judges are authorized but not required to perform marriages. However, they cannot refuse to officiate same-sex weddings if they agree to perform marriages for opposite-sex couples.
In New York, a grand jury can investigate public officials for alleged misconduct. At the request of Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, a grand jury was convened to examine the Davises’ allegations and determine whether Pitts-Davis had engaged in discrimination. The panel heard from six witnesses and reviewed three exhibits before issuing its report.
The report suggests that Pitts-Davis’s refusal to marry the Davises was neither a scheduling error nor a miscommunication. Pitts-Davis asked Syracuse City Court Clerk Lucille Matrassi on November 15, 2024, whether either of the weddings scheduled for the following day involved a same-sex couple.
Matrassi said that one was — the Davises’ — and that Pitts-Davis claimed her religious beliefs prevented her from officiating the ceremony. Pitts-Davis allegedly instructed Matrassi to reschedule the wedding with another judge and asked her not to disclose the details of their conversation to anyone else.
Matrassi attempted to comply, informing the Davises that their wedding would have to be rescheduled. But because the couple had already booked a reception following the ceremony, they objected to the change. Matrassi then contacted Chief Clerk Valerie James, who reported the matter to Supervising Syracuse City Court Judge Mary Anne Doherty.
Doherty, who is married to a woman, subsequently came to the courthouse on her day off to officiate the Davises’ wedding. She later testified before the grand jury that she had never encountered a situation in which a judge refused to marry a same-sex couple in Syracuse City Court.
Based on its findings, the grand jury unanimously recommended that Pitts-Davis be removed from the bench. Although a grand jury doesn’t have the power to remove a judge, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct can.
However, the Commission on Judicial Conduct announced in March that it would censure Pitts-Davis rather than remove her from office, according to WSYR. The commission has since defended that decision, arguing that the grand jury report is “outdated” and lacks important context.
“The 17-page decision by the Commission on Judicial Conduct to censure Judge Pitts-Davis in March 2026 was based on an extensive investigation considerably more detailed and nuanced than what appears in the 7-page Grand Jury report of December 2024 that was only made public this week,” the commission said in a statement to WSYR.
“In addition to hearing from the judge herself, which the Grand Jury did not, the Commission reported that she had previously performed same-sex marriages and had committed to doing so in the future if no other judges were available. The Commission decision spelled out other highly significant facts about the pertinent sequence of events that the Grand Jury report did not,” the commission’s statement added. “Describing the outdated Grand Jury report without comparing it side-by-side to the more recent and more extensive Commission decision creates an inaccurate picture of the events.”
The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into Smith College, accusing the all-women's school in Northampton, Massachusetts, of violating federal laws against sex-based discrimination by allowing transgender women to enroll.
The investigation marks the first time the Trump administration has targeted school admissions policies as part of its broader crackdown on transgender rights. Previously, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights had focused primarily on transgender athletes competing on female sports teams and transgender restroom access.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched investigations into three dozen Illinois school districts, alleging that they may have failed to allow parents to "opt out" of lessons involving LGBTQ content.
The investigations, announced last week by the department, will also examine whether 35 school districts and Chicago's largest charter school network allow transgender students to use bathrooms or participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity, rather than their assigned sex at birth.
In its news release, the Justice Department said it would determine whether the districts are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funds.
South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has signed a bill into law requiring multi-user restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities in K-12 schools and public colleges to be designated for use according to a person's sex assigned at birth.
The new law -- the "South Carolina Student Physical Privacy Act" -- defines "sex" as a person's biological sex as observed or verified at birth.
It allows transgender students to use single-occupancy restrooms. But if a school lacks one, it can designate outdoor porta-potties as single-occupancy restrooms. The measure could effectively force transgender students to use the porta-potties.
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