Tag Archives: Texas same-sex marriage

Texas Grants Benefits to Same-Sex Spouses of State Employees

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s big decision on June 26th, most of what Texans have been hearing on the news is rightly about marriage. Even if some counties across the state continue to hold-out, the general trend is that they will eventually fall in line and comply with federal law.  At present, 115 counties across the Lone Star State are now issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They have come to this decision even in spite of grandiose promises from Attorney General Ken Paxton stating that counties *can* continue to refuse licenses to same-sex couples… as long as they are cool with risking a mountain of potential litigation.

While Paxton continues his quest for fantasy adjudication, other agencies across the state are moving forward.  Effective today, Texas Public Employees can now receive benefits for their same-sex spouses.  Here’s the story from Tom Benning of the Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN — The state bureaucracy is moving forward to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision, even as statewide elected leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have lambasted the landmark ruling.

Starting Wednesday — less than a week after the decision — the Employees Retirement System of Texas, the University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System will extend benefits to spouses of gay and lesbian employees.

That means the list of employers providing same-sex partner benefits will include the state’s largest: the state itself.

[…]

The tangible developments highlight a divide between political rhetoric and practical reality on the emotional issue.

“Honestly, for the first time today I walked onto campus and I felt equal,” said Lisa Moore, an English professor at UT who had pushed for same-sex benefits. “I felt like I was being paid the same as a heterosexual employee.”

Employees in the ERS system (Employees Retirement System of Texas) have already been notified that spouses can receive benefits starting today if they were legally married before June 26th.  If they are recently married, their partners can receive benefits within 30 days of the employee filing.

So if you didn’t catch the irony here, Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton are encouraging county officials to basically ignore the ruling, yet they are doing nothing to prevent large state agencies from compliance.  What’s the word here… hypocrisy?  

In any event, it’s good that some state leaders see the writing on the wall.  For the hundreds of thousands of public employees across Texas, and especially the tens of thousands that are directly affected, today is yet again equality day.

So enjoy, and make sure to get your wives and husbands signed up!!

Welcome to Texas

 

 

 

 

Texas’ First Same-Sex Marriage Granted in Travis County

Today history is made in the state of Texas, as the first same-sex couple is officially granted a marriage license.  Here’s the scoop from the Austin-American Statesman

Two Austin women were legally married Thursday morning after a Travis County judge ordered the county clerk to issue a marriage license.

Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant, together almost 31 years, said their vows before Rabbi Kerry Baker while standing in front of the Travis County Clerk’s Office sign on Airport Boulevard.

The couple was denied a license in the same office building eight years ago.

But on Thursday morning, state District Judge David Wahlberg, petitioned by a lawyer for Goodfriend and Bryant, ordered Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir to grant the couple a marriage license.

The ceremony was a mix of personal – with friends and their teenage daughters, Dawn and Ting, standing nearby – and public statement, with photos of their vows in front of the county sign.

The license was granted in the wake of earlier events this week, as Travis County Judge Guy Herman issued a ruling striking down the state marriage ban in the county, calling it a violation of Equal Protection rights under the U.S. Constitution.

At present, the marriage of Goodfriend and Bryant is no guarantee that other couples can get married just yet.  Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir stated that her office issued the marriage license solely in compliance with this specific court order.  But this is of course still an historic event for the Lone Star State, however it happened.  More petitions and legal challenges are sure to follow.

travis county

(photo credit:  Statesman Video

Texas Judge Declines To Lift Stay Preventing Marriage Equality

After several days of hopeful anticipation, it appears that LGBT couples hoping to marry in Texas will once again have their dreams deferred.  Here’s the story by Guillermo Contreras of the San Antonio Express-News (via the Houston Chronicle website)…

A San Antonio-based federal judge declined on Friday to allow gay marriages to take place in Texas while the state awaits a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In February, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garciaruled Texas’ same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, but — knowing his ruling would be appealed — imposed a hold that prevented gays from immediately getting married. The state did appeal, and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 9.

In early October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review same-sex marriage cases from five other states, effectively legalizing gay marriage in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin. Since then, federal courts in five additional states have overturned their bans, bringing the total number of states with legalized same-sex marriage to 35. It also is legal in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis.

Noting the legal landscape has changed, the two couples who challenged Texas’ ban, Nicole Dimetman andCleopatra De Leon and Mark Phariss and Victor Holmes, requested last month that Garcia lift the stay.

In his latest order, Garcia said he was not persuaded that the actions by the Supreme Court supported lifting his stay. He also denied the state’s claim that he had no jurisdiction in the case anymore.

However, his order shows he appeared on the brink of lifting the stay.

Garcia seemed to anticipate that the 5th Circuit would put the stay back in place in the Texas case if he lifted it. If lifted, he wrote, it would create a rush to courthouses of same-sex couples seeking to get married, only to see themselves in legal limbo should the stay be reimposed by the appeals court.

“Lifting the stay would not bring finality to this Fourteenth Amendment claim,” Garcia wrote. “To the contrary, such action would only be temporary, with confusion and doubt to follow. The day for finality and legal certainty in the long and difficult journey for equality is closer than ever before.”

So in Garcia’s opinion, he wants to avoid the ‘legal limbo’ that would be caused by allowing a brief window for marriage equality in Texas, preferring that couples simply continue to wait until the issue is settled by the Supreme Court.

But many of the couples see things differently, as legal limbo was exactly what they were seeking to create for the state.  As laws stand, Texas is currently able to deny LGBT couples because they do not have official state documentation of their marriages, even in the case that they are legally married from another state.  Like Katy resident Connie Wilson, who was initially denied access to a Texas Driver License because the state didn’t recognize her California marriage certificate, the Texas government is currently using the fact that couples cannot legally marry in the state as an excuse to discriminate.

However, this sanctioned discrimination becomes much tougher to accomplish when the documentation is from Texas itself.  That is why even the small window of time that would allow a few couples to marry could prove critically important once cases do reach the Supreme Court.  Lifting the stay would be far from a final solution, but it could serve to strengthen the overall case for marriage equality in Texas.  But that is not the direction Judge Garcia has chosen.

 

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)