ROOT — In a legal settlement reached Wednesday, a Montgomery County town will pay $25,000 to a gay couple who were denied a marriage license and it will amend its policies to permit those marriages.

Lambda Legal, a national LGBT rights group, reached the settlement with the town of Root, whose town clerk last year objected to marriages between same-sex couples on religious grounds.

In July, the couple, Dylan Toften and Thomas Hurd, visited the clerk's office in Root, which is about 50 miles northwest of Albany. Clerk Laurel "Sherrie" Eriksen, declined to process the couple's request.

Lambda Legal argued that refusal was in violation of New York's Marriage Equality Act, passed in 2011, along with federal and state civil rights laws and constitutional protections.

As part of the settlement, according to Lambda Legal, the town clerk read a public statement at Wednesday night's town board meeting agreeing to provide licenses to all couples who are legally qualified, while also apologizing to Toften and Hurd. The settlement also included a payment of $25,000 to the couple.

"On July 30th of last year, there was an unfortunate incident involving Mr. Thomas Hurd and Mr. Dylan Toften who came to my office seeking a marriage license," Eriksen said at the meeting. "I am sorry for any harm or inconvenience my actions caused the couple."

Toften said in a statement that he felt "vindicated and grateful" and was happy that the state "supports our marriage and that we were able to not allow this one town clerk in our town to get away with violating the law and discriminating against LGBT families."