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[HylianTom]

A unanimous Texas Supreme Court concluded Friday that there is no established right to government-provided spousal benefits in same-sex marriages.

The 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established the right to same-sex marriage did not decide all marriage-related matters, leaving room for state courts to explore the decision’s “reach and ramifications,” the all-Republican Texas court said.

Supporters of gay marriage have vowed to appeal such a ruling to the federal courts, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court clearly stated that all marriages must be treated equally.

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas...gay-marriage-benefits/YhIJSUN9u9Uy2d8n0exU2I/


...

We know the likely outcome if this reaches SCOTUS and the Obergefell 5 are still all there. But imagine if a Trumpified SCOTUS gets a case like this and tells the state, "sure.. this is fine."

 

[Pizza]

WHAT WHY

 

[WascallyWabbit]

*sigh* my state has come a long way but it's still got a ways to go. Progress is a slow process indeed

 

[benicillin]

We'll see them in court.

 

[Anoregon]

WHAT WHY

Texas

 

[Shaanyboi]

Oh fuck you, Texas

 

[jiiikoo]

Oh for fucks sake.

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

Put Texas in the trash.

 

[skullmuffins]

Unanimous? Fuck off, Texas.

 

[NandoGip]

Wow. Their hatred for gay men is really strong.

 

[The Lamp]

My boyfriend is moving here to Texas to be with me. Looks like we won't stay here long

 

[Coolluck]

Can we go ahead and initiate the fracturing of Texas to try and inject some sanity?

 

[Vicetrailia]

What an amazing state.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Texas government continues to be trash.

 

[wwm0nkey]

2 of my friends got married in Austin and moved there....they probably wont stay long I imagine

 

[SomewhatGroovy]

Greg Abbott continues to be evil Professor X

 

[whyamihere]

This will get appealed to the SCOTUS and quickly thrown out. Pavan made that clear. Idiots.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Can homophobes fuck off? I'm serious, I'm getting tired of hearing about these people acting like assholes against people who don't affect their lives in any way. Unanimous, too? Texas continues to be an embarrassment

 

[plagiarize]

Shameless. I hope because this is all out in the open, that some day we will be able to do something about it. I hope that day isn't decades away.

 

[Misha]

so its marriage in name only.

 

[SliceSabre]

Not surprised Texas courts said that, it'll be overturned.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

This will get appealed to the SCOTUS and quickly thrown out. Pavan made that clear. Idiots.

The worst part is that they probably know this but did it anyway out of spite and hate.

 

[_Ryo_]

Affirmation that conservatives are evil.

 

[Spaced Harrier]

This is why our constitution was changed to define marriage as a contract between two people without relation to their sex.


So it's not gay marriage. It just marriage for gay people.

Spoiler

(One early draft in Irish alluded to marriage being possible only by gay people and had to be altered)

 

[The Lamp]

Can homophobes fuck off? I'm serious, I'm getting tired of hearing about these people acting like assholes against people who don't affect their lives in any way. Unanimous, too? Texas continues to be an embarrassment

Texas has among the lowest local politics participation of a state. Nobody votes except retired old people. So of course the people controlling our state are fucked up old republicans.

The beautiful irony is they live in Austin, where they are hated bitterly by everyone around them.

 

[Dan]

This sounds like an incredibly cowardly ruling.

Two taxpayers, including Christian pastor Jack Pidgeon, next turned to the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, which initially rejected their appeal in September, with only one member, Justice John Devine, dissenting.

A campaign by social and religious conservatives produced a barrage of emails asking the eight other justices to reconsider or risk a backlash in the next GOP primary. Leading Republicans — including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — joined the call, and in January the court issued a rarely granted motion to rehear the case and set oral arguments for March 1.

Friday’s ruling by the state’s highest civil court returns the case to a Harris County district court to determine if the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage ruling applies to spousal benefits provided by the city of Houston.

“We decline to instruct the trial court how to construe Obergefell on remand,” said the opinion, written by Justice Jeff Boyd.

 

[dallow_bg]

Only good thing is that this will be taken to US Supreme Court to overturn.

 

[sangreal]

This sounds like an incredibly cowardly ruling.

good grief

this is why judges shouldn't be elected

at any rate, I feel the SCOTUS just addressed this like 2 days ago in the 6-3 birth certificate ruling

 

[Anion]

How do TX Supreme Court justices get appointed? Is it by the Governor?

 

[Mesoian]

WHAT WHY

You know why.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Texas has among the lowest local politics participation of a state. Nobody votes except retired old people. So of course the people controlling our state are fucked up old republicans.

The beautiful irony is they live in Austin, where they are hated bitterly by everyone around them.

The one time I visited Austin I loved it. If it wasn't in Texas I'd strongly consider living there too, but I feel like there'd be too much state government fuckery interfering

 

[Dan]

How do TX Supreme Court justices get appointed? Is it by the Governor?

Elected to six year terms.

 

[wamberz1]

For fucks sake

 

[hammysaurusrex]

How do TX Supreme Court justices get appointed? Is it by the Governor?

Partisan elections.

 

[jmood88]

Texas continues to be trash.

 

[Vark]

This is stupid, discriminatory, and a waste of my tax dollars (can I sue the state of Texas for using my own money to strip my rights? Asking for a friend).

This applies specifically to state paid benefits btw. It doesn't touch the public sector (while establishing a shitty precedent).

 

[Autodidact]

Texas has among the lowest local politics participation of a state. Nobody votes except retired old people. So of course the people controlling our state are fucked up old republicans.

The beautiful irony is they live in Austin, where they are hated bitterly by everyone around them.

Yes, Texas has the potential to go blue sooner than anyone thinks, but we have to find ways to increase Latino turnout. Black and white people vote at roughly the same rate (of course white people have more voters in absolute terms, but same percentage), while Latino turnout lags sharply. Getting that group to the polls would solidify our hold in Nevada, probably turn Arizona, and get Texas very close.

 

[NimbusD]

Ok sure you can be married, but all of the things that make up what marriage actually is in the eyes of the state you can't have.

Is essentially their case.

Fucking insane.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

Total fucking bullshit

I'm so fucking pissed right now

 

[Hazmat]

How do TX Supreme Court justices get appointed? Is it by the Governor?

Texas judges are all elected. If that sounds terrible, you're right.

 

[Trojita]

Two taxpayers, including Christian pastor Jack Pidgeon, next turned to the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, which initially rejected their appeal in September, with only one member, Justice John Devine, dissenting.

A campaign by social and religious conservatives produced a barrage of emails asking the eight other justices to reconsider or risk a backlash in the next GOP primary. Leading Republicans — including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — joined the call, and in January the court issued a rarely granted motion to rehear the case and set oral arguments for March 1.

This isn't how the Judicial system should work FFS.

 

[Glitchesarecool]

Shocking that Texas would be discriminatory.

Shocking.

Spoiler

I cannot wait to move out of this hellhole.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Yes, Texas has the potential to go blue sooner than anyone thinks, but we have to find ways to increase Latino turnout. Black and white people vote at roughly the same rate (of course white people have more voters in absolute terms, but same percentage), while Latino turnout lags sharply. Getting that group to the polls would solidify our hold in Nevada, probably turn Arizona, and get Texas very close.

Beto ORourke is on the horizon for 2018 I believe. Latino candidate who's running for senate in 2018, I should donate to his campaign

 

[EdibleKnife]

so its marriage in name only.

Right? It's clear that the inherent "worth" that allows opposite sex partners benefits doesn't extend to couples of the same sex for reasons they pull out of their ass.

As always, there are multiple ways to support efforts to protect marriage equality and the rights that should come with it and to light a fire under the people in your state to make it known how intolerable this is.

 

[OrionX]

Well that's... one way to cap off pride month...

Sometimes it feels like I'm in a love/hate relationship with my home state. By which I mean that I love it while it continues to hate me.

 

[kamineko]

Everything's bigger in Texas. Even the garbage people

 

[Aselith]

There's no established right therefore we can't establish it because there is no established right

 

[Autodidact]

Beto ORourke is on the horizon for 2018 I believe. Latino candidate who's running for senate in 2018, I should donate to his campaign

Beto O'Rourke is white but was raised in a Latino community.

 

[Christian]

BUT TEXAS IS SO LIBERAL IN THE BIG CITIES GUYS. BIG CITIES. GUYS. IS THIS THING ON?!

 

[Vark]

The one time I visited Austin I loved it. If it wasn't in Texas I'd strongly consider living there too, but I feel like there'd be too much state government fuckery interfering

They try, but we're super annoyingly progressive and we have their building surrounded. Up until the awful sanctuary city debate Texas pushes pretty hard for 'local rights' so there's this weird friction between 'you can't tell me what to do' and 'hey you Austin, stop doing your own thing you hippies'.