Imagine you’re a gay person arrested for being gay in a republican county and all the public defenders get to refuse to defend you because you’re gay.
Which is of course is the goal: lgbt people are not allowed to exist (as we already see in those states currently making it illegal to be trans)
There’s a distinction — see incidents where a state employee refuses to issue a marriage license, and that gets the employee fired. Public defenders do not get the same leeway a non-state provided lawyer has in representing a client.