District Judge Strikes Down Texas Ban on Marriage Equality

[ccharles000]

In a first for Texas and a sweeping rejection of the state’s ban on gay marriage, a judge has cleared the way for two gay Dallas men to divorce.

A voter-approved state constitutional amendment and the Texas Family Code prohibit same-sex marriages or civil unions. And the Texas attorney general had intervened in the two men’s divorce case, arguing that since a gay marriage isn’t recognized in Texas, a Texas court can’t dissolve one through divorce.

But Dallas state District Judge Tena Callahan ruled Thursday that the state's bans on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law.

She 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.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/100109dnmetgaymarriage.1d5a0d50d.html

[Swamp Rat]

1. k&r

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Yes! The Full Faith and Credit Clause Strikes!!

:D :D :D :D :D

I knew this would happen. Two people would get married, move to another state that does not recognize gay marriage, and want a divorce.

[Arkana]

3. Full Faith & Credit has rendered bans on gay marriage impotent.

As long as one state has it, it will have to be recognized everywhere.

[tritsofme]

8. Could the same concept hold true for a state issued CCW license?

I'm not particularly interested in gun politics, but I thought it was an interesting argument.

[ccharles000]

4. kick

[tammywammy]

5. k&r

[27inCali]

6. and this happened in Texas?

Holy Shit, My dumb texan father in law will literally puke when he hears this haha!

[blogslut]

7. Good

Very good. :)

[pleah]

9. K&R

[ccharles000]

10. one last kick

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. The district judge who made the ruling HAS jurisdiction.

She hears domestic relations cases. This has nothing to do with the State of Texas or federal laws, other than the Full Faith and Credit Clause & the Fourteenth Amendment(Due process and equal protection). I read the article from January when it was filed.

This is no different than a straight couple who got married in Massachusetts and moved to Texas, and want a divorce. And people are commenting that the couple should move BACK to Massachusetts and get a divorce THERE.

That will not work. Texas has to recognize the validity of ANY marriage contracted in Massachusetts or any other state.

I am a lawyer but I do not play one on TV. :D

[Ms. Toad]

15. Actually - no.

This is a really big deal, from a legal standpoint.

Entertaining a suit for divorce requires recognition of the marriage (acknowledging that it exists) - which is precisely what most state (and federal) marriage discrimination laws and amendments prohibit. If the state recognizes that a marriage exists for any purpose, it is far harder to refuse to recognize a marriage for other purposes.

This is not hypothetical musing - I am a lawyer, and I married my same gender spouse in Canada, knowing that divorce would be virtually impossible. We (or one of us) would need to move to a state or country that recognized our marriage (at that time I'm not sure there were any states), and establish residency in that state for whatever period was required, in order to have the legal right to have my marriage recognized just long enough to terminate it.

We celebrated our 28th anniversary last month, so I don't really think we'll need to test it out any time soon.

[BlooInBloo]

12. Heh. Universal acid.

[Toasterlad]

13. I Can't Begin To Tell You How Annoying It Is For a Gay Person To Watch the Rest of the Country

oh so slowly realize that gay people are people too.

I'm sure there are many people thrilled by this news. Me, all I see is another case where a judge is handing out a ruling that should have been law from the get-go.

I am not happy when gay people get the rights they are due from birth. I am pissed off that it took so long. When the last withheld right is finally bestowed, I will not be in the streets celebrating. I will be composing letters to Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court chastising them FOR TAKING SO FUCKING LONG.

My rights aren't something that can be condescendingly given to me. My rights are being deliberately withheld from me, and every elected and appointed official is complicit in this hi-jacking.

[HillWilliam]

14. I read this last night on Pam's House Blend

and I'm pretty darn sure the New Madrid Fault is going open wide and let'r rip. Good law hammercy. This is the biggest thing since the TX21.06 ruling.

Is there a lawyer on the thread? There is another similar case pending; was it Indiana where a lesbian couple wanted a divorce? Does this decision affect that case as well or has that been adjudicated? Or is it in appeal? (I've had the flu all week and I'm totally out of touch with the world.)