More than likely, not anytime soon but this ruling could start that ball rolling. From the Dallas News (hat tip to Pam's House Blend):
In a first for Texas, a judge ruled Thursday that two men married in another state can divorce here and that the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
Both a voter-approved state constitutional amendment and the Texas Family Code prohibit same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Although the case is far from settled, and the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage is a long way from being thrown out, Dallas state District Judge Tena Callahan's ruling says the state prohibition of same-sex marriage violates the federal constitutional right to equal protection.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott had intervened in the two men's divorce case, arguing that because a gay marriage isn't recognized in Texas, a Texas court can't dissolve one through divorce.
Callahan, a Democrat, denied the attorney general's intervention and said her court "has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction."
"This is huge news. We're ecstatic," said Dallas attorney Peter Schulte, who represents the man who filed the divorce. The man, identified in court documents as J.B., asked that he and his former partner not be identified.
Schulte said that the ruling was a surprise and that he hoped to have a divorce order for the judge to sign in the "next few weeks."
In a prepared statement, Abbott said he would appeal the ruling "to defend the traditional definition of marriage that was approved by Texas voters."
His statement also said, "The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman. Today's ruling purports to strike down that constitutional definition – despite the fact that it was recently adopted by 75 percent of Texas voters."
Of course, if we left human rights up to a popular vote, slavery would likely have persisted much longer in the South and there could be areas even today where interracial marriage would still be illegal.
Fortunately we don't do that anymore, except apparently when it comes to LGBT people. That's one of the purposes of our courts, to protect us from the tyrany of the majority.
We'll be keeping a close eye on further developments in this case.
Click here to read the rest of the Dallas News story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment