Tag Archives: Texas marriage equality

Texoblogosphere: Week of February 23rd

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant on the event of their wedding as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff took issue with the initial reactions to the SD26 special election runoff result.

Light seeker at Texas Kaos continues to take down Fox News and its cynical use of fear, divide, conquer and false equivalencies. Its tactics are literally tearing us apart. The Fear and Hate Chronicles (Part 2) Part I it can be found here.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees the Republican hatred of non-white people is stronger than their need to show off their manly (sic) military muscles. Their ignorance has a price and their plutocrat owners, unfortunately, are not the ones paying.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. Tax cuts for the rich, tax increases for everyone else, A Slow Migration – Patrick’s Tax Swap Scheme.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s Texas tour now includes College Station and Laredo, in addition to this week’s Monday evening and Tuesday appearances In Houston. PDiddie’s Brains and Eggs has more details.

Neil at All People Have Value took a nighttime walk. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Unfair Park looks into some rather unconventional speakers for Earth Day Texas 2015.

RG Ratcliffe takes a deeper dive into Greg Abbott’s campaign finance reports.

The Lunch Tray finds another example of craven grandstanding at the expense of children’s health.

HOU Equality reminds us that discrimination happens all around us, all the time.

TFN Insider reports from the faith leaders’ rally for LGBT rights at the Capitol.

Grits for Breakfast does not see marijuana “legalization”, however one defines that, in the cards this year.

Finally, In The 84th looks at the current legislative session in the most logical way, with GIFs and snark.

Austin 2015

This week’s featured image is of downtown Austin, Texas from South Congress street, taken by me. Thanks Austin for being the birthplace of Texas Marriage Equality!!

 

LOOKOUT! Marriage Equality May Soon Land In Texas

Some very exciting news may be ahead for LGBT Texans, as reported by John Wright in the Texas Observer…

Last week, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Texas’ marriage bans asked U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia to lift his stay of a February decision striking down the bans. If Garcia lifts the stay, it could create a window for same-sex marriages to occur in Texas before Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott can seek a new stay from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is set to hear oral arguments in the case on Jan. 9.

[…]

“I don’t think there is anything keeping them from issuing the licenses once the stay is lifted, but an argument could be made that they aren’t required to do so until it [the outcome of the case] becomes final,” Upton said.

Fortunately, same-sex couples from Fort Worth will be able to obtain licenses in Dallas, where Democratic clerk John Warren said he’s prepared to issue them.

“You take an oath to uphold the law, and if the law changes, you’ve got to do it,” Warren said. “If the law says I can’t, then I won’t. If the law says I can, then I will.”

Democratic Republican Bexar County Clerk Gerhard C. “Gerry” Rickhoff said in addition to keeping his office open ’round-the-clock, he’s considering setting up tables in Main Plaza to accommodate same-sex couples. Rickhoff said he’s also lined up district judges to waive a 72-hour waiting period before ceremonies can occur, as well as officiants to conduct them.

“There’s a pent-up demand to stop these civil rights violations that are pretty evident,” Rickhoff said. “I would imagine they’ll be driving into San Antonio in droves, and that’s what we’re prepared for. Nobody will be turned away. We’ll work until there’s nobody left.”

Democratic Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said her office will also be ready to extend its hours if Garcia lifts the stay.

This same “marriage window” occurred earlier this year in the state of Arkansas, where a judge struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, but state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel did not file an emergency stay upon appeal of the judge’s ruling.  As a result of this window, 541 couples were able to marry in the Natural State, but for now the validity of those marriages is in legal limbo.

But Arkansas seems to be following a very familiar playbook… that of California.  Because of the marriages established for the state beginning in 2004, the Supreme Court had no choice but to strike down California’s ban once and for all in 2013.  These are all important steps in the process.  It’s one thing for a state to ban any and all possibilities of marriage.  But once people are allowed to obtain official marriage licenses from any counties willing to issue them, it’s going to be hard for Texas to keep up appearances with the state’s marriage ban.

So there you have it… we’ve got at least 3 Texas County Clerks that are ready to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses at any time.  Let’s hope that judge Garcia lifts the stay soon, and if you’re an interested couple that doesn’t live in Dallas, Austin or San Antonio, get your bag packed for a quick trip!

LGBT marriage County Clerks

(Photo credit:  Equality Texas)

By Banning Same-Sex Marriage, Texas Losing Out On Big Business

 

Weddings touch all of our lives at one point or another.  If you’re single, you’ve probably attended at least one, or have even been a part of the wedding party.  And if you’re volunteer or staff member in a faith community, then you’ve probably been to more weddings than you can possibly count.  For all of these reasons, it makes perfect sense to assess weddings for their personal impacts on those involved, but also for their economic impacts in society.  Wedding planners, jewelers, photographers, musicians, florists, caterers, event halls and sacred spaces all play key roles in these traditions.  The more weddings that take place, the more money is invested across the local economy.

For all of these reasons, it should be no surprise that the prohibition of same-sex marriage in Texas is actually hindering the state’s economy.  Here are the findings from Equality Texas

The Williams Institute released a report today that marriage for same-sex couples in Texas would add $181.6 million to the state and local economy over a three-year period. The report predicts that 23,000 Texas couples would marry, spending an average of more than $6,000 per wedding. Up to 1,500 jobs would be created in the state.

“Overall these numbers seem, if anything, conservative for the long run,” said Dr. Daniel S. Hamermesh, Professor in Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, and Sue Killam Professor in the Foundation of Economics, University of Texas at Austin. “Further, marriage for same-sex couples allows couples to be better off – creating what economists call a ‘marital surplus’ which provides an even greater economic benefit.”

The Williams Institute utilized state-level data, as well as the 2010 U.S. Census and the American Community Survey, to conservatively estimate the impact of extending marriage to same-sex couples in Texas.

“The Williams Institute report affirms that the freedom to marry is good for business in Texas,” said Chuck Smith, executive director of Equality Texas. “Allowing gay couples to marry here would give an economic boost to caterers, florists, event venues, and others who make a living through wedding planning.

The above just talks about a couple’s wedding day, but the benefits go far beyond that.  Married couples contribute more in overall tax revenue (via better retirement investments, larger goods purchases like houses/cars and saving), and cost less to taxpayers because they rely less on things like government healthcare, dependent housing, home health aides and Social Security. If one believes in being a fiscal conservative then they should also believe in marriage equality.  It just makes sense.

It’s also worth remembering just how close the Lone Star State is to having full marriage equality.  The only reason same-sex marriage isn’t legal in Texas today is because Republican Gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott filed an emergency stay to stop couples from getting married.  If Democrats were to win the races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, things in Texas might be very different.  He’s on the ballot this November, so you have a chance to tell him directly what you think of that decision.

(image credit:  GLAAD.org)

Abbott Files “Emergency” Stay To Stop Marriage Equality Case

Chances are when someone says the word “emergency” to you, some of the images that may cross your mind are those of an ambulance or fire truck speeding to save someone in danger. Or perhaps the loud sound of alarm bells at a school being threatened by a storm.

But apparently to Gubernatorial Candidate Greg Abbott, the threat of wedding bells and divorce court constitutes an emergency of the utmost importance. This week after a District Judge moved to hear the case of a lesbian couple seeking a divorce, Attorney General Abbott raced to put an emergency stay on the decision. Here’s more from Lone Star Q

Warning of the possibility of same-sex marriages and “legal chaos,” Attorney General Greg Abbott has convinced a Texas appeals court to halt a San Antonio judge’s decision striking down the state’s marriage bans.

State District Judge Barbara Nellermoe ruled Tuesday that a lesbian couple’s divorce and child custody case could proceed, citing a federal judge’s ruling in February declaring Texas’ marriage bans unconstitutional.

However, the Austin American-Statesman reports that Abbott requested an emergency stay from the 4th District Court of Appeals, warning “to avoid the legal chaos that would follow if the trial court’s broadly worded ruling is mistakenly interpreted as authorization for the creation or recognition of same-sex marriages in Bexar County or throughout the state.”

The 4th Court of Appeals granted the stay on Thursday.

Abbott, a Republican who’s running for governor, is defending the state’s marriage bans against three federal lawsuits, from same-sex couples, including the one in which U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled in favor of marriage equality in February. Abbott is appealing Garcia’s decision, which was also stayed, to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It’s an interesting window into the mind of Abbott and his anti-equality colleagues. Challenging Texas’ same-sex marriage ban would result in legal chaos, but cutting billions of dollars from Texas’ schoolchildren is no big deal? He’s also not in a big rush to provide a pathway for millions of Texans to access life-saving healthcare either. Both of those problems seem much more chaotic than a few people that want to marry who they love, or be granted a divorce.

Back to the chaos point, isn’t it time to drop all of the fire and brimstone rhetoric around marriage equality anyway? Calamity has yet to erupt in any of the 17 states that now grant same-sex marriages, and there’s no reason to assume the Lone Star State would be different. When are Conservatives going to stop sounding the alarm on this? Pretty soon, no one will believe them anyway.

 

Texas Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional!!

Directly from the Houston Chronicle

SAN ANTONIO – A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday declared Texas’ ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. The Lone Star state’s refusal to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages is also unconstitutional, he ruled.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, however, also issued a stay, meaning the bans remain in effect for the time being.

Two gay couples have sued the state aiming to overturn the bans. One lesbian couple had to go to Massachusetts to get married, and they want Texas to recognize the union. A second couple had a courtship of 17 years and say they want to get married here in their home state.

Garcia ruled that the couples met the criteria for a preliminary injunction, including the likelihood of winning the suit.

Nationwide, seven states have struck down same-sex marriage bans, in whole or in part, in the past 65 days. But every state, including now Texas, has a stay in effect leaving the laws in place until the issue is visited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

After all of the rallies, speeches and services I’ve attended leading up to a day like this, it’s hard to not be somewhat emotional. Even as the old guard tries vociferously to push back, the march towards equality rolls on. This is a happy day, indeed.

Granted, marriage isn’t everything. Texas is still a state where too many people receive open and lawful discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s still a state where too many people can be fired based on who they love. But along the path to full equality, we have to stop and celebrate the victories that we achieve. For that, I am thankful.

To all of the wonderful engaged couples out there, it’s time to plan for your nuptials. Equality is coming to the Lone Star State!!