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TX: New Poll Shows 63% Favor Relationship Recognition for Gay/Lesbian Couples

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Texans who attend church more than once a week are three times as likely to oppose relationship recognition for same-sex couples as those who don’t attend church at all. And Texans who didn’t complete high school are twice as likely to oppose relationship recognition as those with four-year college degrees.

Meanwhile, those who identify as “strong Democrats” are seven times as likely to support marriage equality as those who identify as “strong Republicans.” And Latinos in Texas are more likely to support marriage equality than either whites or blacks.

These are among the findings of University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released this week. Overall, the poll of 800 registered voters found that a solid majority of Texans, about 63 percent, support some form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, either marriage or civil unions. Only 30 percent of poll respondents said they oppose both marriage and civil unions, while 7 percent said they “don’t know.” The poll, conducted the first week of February, has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

Full Story from the Dallas Voice
Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.
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Posted in civil unions, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, poll, relationship recognition, same sex marriage, texas, tx | No Responses »

TX: AG Tries to Block Lesbian Couple's Divorce

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is arguing that divorce, like marriage, according to Texas law, is reserved solely for a man and a woman. A state district judge in Austin granted a divorce last week between Sabina Daly, of San Antonio, and Angelique Naylor, of Austin.

The two were married under Massachusetts law in 2004.

A day after the judge’s decision, Abbott filed a motion to block the divorce before it was entered into the official record. Abbott told the San Antonio Express-News that the marriage was not valid in Texas, and therefore neither is the divorce.

Full Story from KWTX
Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in attorney general, gay divorce, Greg Abbott, lesbian divorce, texas | No Responses »

TX: Second Same Sex Couple Granted Divorce

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Many of us were angered by Justice Jan Patterson’s recent attempt to give the rightwingers the majority of the Third Court of Appeals. Today, a case that shows why this court is so important to progressives illustrates the point for our anger at Patterson.

This week a second precedent setting case dealing with GLBT rights in regards to marriage and divorce occurred here in Travis County. Last year, a Dallas judge granted a divorce to a gay couple citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Monday, Judge Scott Jenkins granted the second. News 8 reported on Monday:

Travis County judge grants same-sex divorce: Though the State of Texas does not officially recognize same-sex marriages, a Travis County judge has approved a same-sex divorce. Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly married in Massachusetts five years ago. Naylor sought a divorce, but Daly initially wanted to “void” the marriage. The Travis County Court clerk for Judge Scott Jenkins said the divorce was approved, and not voided.

Full Story from Burnt Orange
Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in divorce, Gay Marriage, lesbian, marriage equality, same sex couple, same sex marriage, texas | No Responses »

TX: Gay Couple to Apply for Marriage License in Texas on Freedom to Marry Day

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

A same-sex wedding ceremony and protest for the rights that are denied to Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) couples will take place on Friday before Valentines Day, February 12 beginning at noon. The ceremony will begin in the Historical Plaza, outside the Records Building at 509 Main St. in downtown Dallas followed by the newlyweds proceeding to the marriage license office with the crowd in tow to demand a license that recognizes their union. Flowers, tuxedos, and a pastor will make this a celebratory affirmation of the couple’s marriage while at the same time demanding an end to marriage segregation. Freedom to Marry Day is being co-sponsored by Equality March Texas.

Federal and state legislation, along with a state constitutional amendment, deny some 1300 rights and obligations that accompany marriage to LGBT couples. Due to dim prospects on repealing Texas’s anti-gay constitutional amendment and legislation activists with Queer LiberAction and Equality March Texas argue that the only way for all LGBT Americans to be treated with dignity and fairly is for marriage equality to become federal law.

“The rights of LGBT couples are being used as political fodder across the country. In recent months, equality and justice have won out through the legalization of marriage equality in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington D.C., but defeats in Maine and New Jersey are discouraging. Obama’s inaction on advancing the LGBT struggle for equality is not only deeply disappointing but with his firm understanding in constitutional law it’s utterly intolerable as well,” says Blake Wilkinson of Queer LiberAction.

Full Story from Pegasus News
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in dallas, demonstration, freedom to marry day, hgay marriage, marriage equality, rally, same sex marriage, texas, tx | No Responses »

19 Sign Up for El Paso Domestic Partner Benefits

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The cost of the city government’s domestic partner insurance program turned out to be much less than projected, but critics say they are not mollified. Just 19 city employees signed up so their unmarried heterosexual or gay partners can receive taxpayer-funded health insurance benefits.

The cost will be $42,000 this year, said Irene Morales, a city employee who oversees insurance programs. The city had forecast that 45 employees would be eligible and that the benefit program would cost taxpayers between $128,000 and $287,000. The overall city budget is $673.9 million, of which about $35 million each year is spent on health benefits for municipal employees and their families.

But to opponents of domestic partners benefits, the issue was never just about money. Tom Brown, pastor of Word of Life Church, said a group he has helped to organize will continue trying to overturn the new benefits.

Full Story from Insurance News Net
Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in domestic partner benefits, el paso, texas, tx | No Responses »

TX: Houston Elects Lesbian Mayor

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

The fourth largest city in the United States has made history by electing its first openly gay female mayor despite a ferocious attack by conservatives who made an issue of the fact that she is a lesbian. Annise Parker, who has been city controller, never concealed her sexual orientation and in her victory speech after defeating fellow democrat Gene Locke, she declared: “This election has changed the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, just as this election is about transforming Houstonians’ lives for the better.”

On her campaign page, she said: “Annise and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have two children.”

Her victory may surprise some who see Texas as a Conservative state where gay marriage is illegal. Yet, Parker fought on a platform of fiscal conservatism, crime issues, and taxes.

Full Story from Vancouverite: http://www.vancouverite.com/2009/12/13/houston-becomes-first-major-u-s-city-to-elect-openly-gay-woman-as-mayor/

Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in elected, gay, Houston, lesbian, mayor, texas, tx | No Responses »

Analyses of Four States Reviewing their Anti Gay Marriage Laws

Friday, November 20th, 2009

The marriage equality drumbeat has rumbled on with news that several states will be attempting to re-examine their state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and/or civil unions. Surprisingly, this hasn’t received as much attention as I assumed it would in the LGBT blogosphere.

Ohio state representative Tyrone K. Yates (D-Cincinnati), Kentucky state representative Mary Lou Marzian (D-Jefferson), and Michigan House Speaker Pro Tem Pam Byrnes (D-Washtenaw County) have all introduced legislation to repeal their state’s respective marriage amendments.

Texas Attorney General candidate Barbara Radnofsky, however, has discovered that the state’s amendment also inadvertently “eliminates marriage in Texas,” including common-law marriages. A Texas judge ruled the state’s amendment was unconstitutional last month.

Full Story from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bil-browning/good-news-or-bad-ideas-ky_b_364738.html

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in gay marriage laws, kentucky, michigan, ohio, review, texas | No Responses »

TX: AG Candidate Says Gay Marriage Ban Could Eliminate all Marriages in Texas

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Texans: Are you really married? Maybe not. Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that “marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.” But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares: “This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas,” including common-law marriages.

Full Story from the Star-Telegram: http://www.star-telegram.com/local_news/story/1770445.html

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in attorney general, ban, barbara ann radnofsky, Gay Marriage, texas | No Responses »

Man in Texas Gay Divorce Not "A Poster Child" for Gay Marriage

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

A Dallas man seeking a divorce from his male spouse in Texas appeared publicly for the first time Sunday, saying he is not “a poster child” for efforts to legalize gay marriages in Texas and other states.

The man, who identifies himself only as “J.B.,” said on ABC’s “Good Morning America Weekend” that his petition for a divorce from his spouse of three years was not intended to be a “test case” for expanding gay rights.

“This is not about gay and lesbian marriage,” he said.

The case drew attention after Dallas Judge Tena Callahan ruled Thursday that Texas’ 4-year-old ban against gay marriages is unconstitutional because it stands in the way of gay divorces.

Full Story from the Star-Telegram: http://www.star-telegram.com/dallas_news/story/1659726.html

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in gay divorce, Gay Marriage, judge, texas, tx | No Responses »