Tag: Texas

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Texas Lawmaker Attempts To Supersede SCOTUS On Same-Sex Marriage

A Texas lawmaker believes he can pass legislation that would supersede a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage.

The “Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act” by Magnolia Republican Rep. Cecil Bell Jr. will be heard Wednesday.

It says no state or local funds could be used to “license, register, certify or support” gay marriage. It would also prohibit officials from recognizing, granting or enforcing gay marriage licenses.

Bell says, “This is about the sovereignty of the states.”

SCOTUS will hear arguments regarding marriage equality at the end of April with a decision due in June.

Mr. Bell may want to take a look into the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution…

(h/t JMG)

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News Round-Up: March 5, 2015

Annie Lennox sings from her latest album on PBS – April 3rd.

Some stories you may have missed:

• Do not miss Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert, featuring Great American Songbook classics from her Grammy-nominated album Nostalgia – April 3, at 10 p.m. on PBS.

• You look hotter after one drink. Two drinks? Not so much…

• Reports about Hillary Clinton’s use of private email may be deceiving.

• Conservative Texas state Rep. Rick Miller introduced legislation to bar cities from adopting LGBT protections, and his gay son isn’t happy about it.

• Trevor Moore’s country music parody – “Gays Got Married” – details every nightmare the LGBT haters have ever uttered about marriage equality with hysterical results. Watch below:

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Texas: 5x Married State Rep. Tony Tinderholt Files Judicial Complaint Over Lesbian Couple Marrying

Image via Memeographs

Texas state Rep. Tony Tinderholt has filed a hilarious complaint with the State Commission of Judicial Conduct over a ruling which allowed a lesbian couple together over 30 years to marry.

In filing the complaint, Tinderholt admits that he’s not a lawyer, although you didn’t need him to share that info to know that. He not only says that the judge didn’t notify the attorney general (he did) but Tinderholt names the WRONG judge.

From Raw Story:

Tinderholt, 44, a former member of the U.S. Air Force and Army, wrote out a two-paragraph complaint to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct stating that Judge Wahlberg failed to give notice to the State Attorney General’s office when lifting a stay on the two women’s marriage.

“This judge deliberately violated statutory law, and this is unacceptable,” Tinderholt wrote.

However it was Probate Judge Guy Herman, not Wahlberg, who ruled the same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. Additionally, the State Attorney General’s office did receive notice of the ruling on Jan. 23 and chose to “not to seek direct involvement.”

According to attorney Brian T. Thompson who took part in the case involving the two women, Tinderholt’s complaint won’t hold up against either of the judges.

“It’s a shame that someone who’s taken on the responsibility of writing our laws has so much misunderstanding of the law,” Thompson said.

Clearly a standard-bearer for the sanctity of marriage, Tinderholt is currently in his 5th marriage – a former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

Here’s his hand-written complaint:

2015-02-19 Tinderholt Complaint by laurenmcgaughy

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Texas Sportscaster Dale Hansen Brings Common Sense To Racial Controversy

Last year, veteran sportscaster Dale Hansen of Dallas/Fort Worth’s WFAA gained national attention when he addressed the issue of Michael Sam coming out before the NFL draft.

Hansen again brought his common-sense wisdom to the “Hansen Unplugged” segment of his telecast Tuesday in discussing a controversy in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound.

At a recent basketball game against a rival, more racially diverse school, students were photographed last week holding up signs that read “White” and “Power.” Hansen addressed the issue and it’s origin.

Hansen chided the Flower Mound students’ parents who dismissed the dustup as nothing more than an accidental pairing of signs alongside each other. He shared that his granddaughter recalled attending games at Flower Mound where students would chant “Welfare babies, do you know who your daddy is? Because we know ours.”

He also reached back to his own upbringing in Iowa, where he said his mind was “twisted” by the contrast between his father’s constant and casual use of the “N-word” with praise for the only black family in the county where Hansen grew up.

“Kids have to be taught to hate and it’s our parents and grandparents, and our teachers and coaches, too, who teach us to hate,” Hansen said. “Kids become the product of that environment. I was. And they are.”

“The kids who hold the signs and chant their racist slurs — and it’s not all of them. It never is,” he said. “But their ignorance perpetuates the stereotype of all of us in Texas as a racist, ignorant people.”

Watch Hansen’s take-down below. And bravo once again, Mr. Hansen!

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Former Marine Convicted In “American Sniper” Trial

Via Huffington Post:

A former Marine has been convicted in the deaths of “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend at a shooting range.

Jurors returned the verdict Tuesday against Eddie Ray Routh, whose attorneys had mounted an insanity defense and said he suffered from psychosis. Since prosecutors didn’t seek the death penalty in the capital murder case, the 27-year-old receives an automatic life sentence without parole in the deaths of the famed Navy SEAL and Chad Littlefield.

The men had taken Routh out shooting in February 2013 after Routh’s mother asked Kyle to help him. Family members say Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and in Haiti.

The case drew intense interest, largely because of the blockbuster film based on Kyle’s memoir about his four Iraq tours.

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Texas: Attorney General Seeks to “Void” Marriage License Of Lesbian Cancer Patient

Yesterday, Suzanne Bryant and Sarah Goodfriend became the first legally married same-sex couple in Texas. But now, Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the state’s Supreme Court to declare the couple’s marriage “void.”

Via the Advocate:

“The rogue actions of Travis County judges do not withstand the scrutiny of law,” Paxton said in a statement. “The same-sex marriage license issued yesterday is not valid because it conflicts with the Texas Constitution and State law — the license is therefore void ab initio. The filing we made today with the Texas Supreme Court confirms these points.”

After a state-level judge in Travis County, which includes the state capital of Austin, found Texas’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional Wednesday, Bryant and Goodfriend asked another local judge to consider their emergency request for a marriage license to be issued to the mothers of two, citing Goodfriend’s ongoing battle with ovarian cancer.

Thursday morning, state District Judge David Wahlberg granted the couple’s request, and they were married immediately outside the Travis County courthouse. Wahlberg’s ruling directly ordered Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir to issue a marriage license to Goodfriend and Bryant only, not to other same-sex couples.

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir disagrees with Paxton, saying the marriage license as issued is valid.

The couple has been together more than 30 years.

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Texas Attorney General: Travis County Same-Sex Marriage Is Now “Void”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that he believes the same-sex marriage performed in Travis County is “void” due to yesterday afternoon’s ruling by the state Supreme Court.

The county clerk who issued the license disagrees.

From USA Today:

“The Court’s action upholds our state constitution and stays these rulings by activist judges in Travis County,” Paxton said in a statement. “The same-sex marriage license issued by the Travis County Clerk is void, just as any license issued in violation of state law would be. I will continue to defend the will of the people of Texas, who have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against any judicial activism or overreach.”

According to the Travis County clerk’s office, Judge David Wahlberg signed a state court order Thursday, commanding Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir to “cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license specifically to Plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant” because Goodfriend has ovarian cancer.

The couple married under the judge’s one-time court order. The Texas Supreme Court issued an emergency order blocking gay couples from obtaining marriage licenses after the couple wed Thursday. Despite the attorney general’s statement, Debeauvoir said the marriage still stands. In a statement, the clerk’s office said, “The Texas Supreme Court order on the Motion for Temporary Relief has stayed further proceedings in the trial court, and is not directed at the County Clerk. “I have every reason to believe that the actions I took this morning were legally correct based on the trial court’s order, and that the license my office issued was then and is now valid. There is no further action for me to take at this time,” Debeauvoir said in a statement.

The couple, Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant, have been together for over 30 years.

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Texas State Supreme Court Says No More Gay Marriages

Following the wedding of Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant this morning in Austin, Texas, the Texas Supreme Court has issued an emergency order blocking all future gay marriages.

Goodfriend and Bryant were issued the license after a District judge ordered Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir to grant it.

From WOAI:

“The Texas Supreme Court has granted a stay of two trial court rulings that Texas’ constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages violates constitutional protections to equal protection and due process of law,” The Texas Attorney General’s office said this afternoon. “Motions to stay orders by two Travis County judges, one in a probate case and the other a temporary-restraining order granting a same-sex couple a marriage license, were sought by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

“In the probate case the attorney general also sought an order reversing the probate judge’s decision in a case to determine a will contest. That petition for a mandamus writ remains pending.”

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Texas: First Same-Sex Marriage Takes Place In Travis County

According to the Austin Statesman, at just after 9am today Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant in Travis County became the first same-sex couple married in the state of Texas:

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. On Wednesday 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 ruling appears to only apply to this one couple:

Watch below as the happy couple receives the news of the ruling.

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Texas: Travis County Judge Rules Same-Sex Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

For the second time a Texas judge has ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled as part of an estate fight in which Austin resident Sonemaly Phrasavath sought to have her eight-year relationship to Stella Powell deemed to have been a common-law marriage. Powell died last summer of colon cancer.

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said she will be conferring with Herman and county lawyers to determine the impact of the ruling.

“I am scrambling, trying to find out if there is anything I can do. Right now, I think it’s no, but we are checking,” said DeBeauvoir, who in the past has said that she is ready to begin distributing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as soon as allowed by the courts.

The lawyer for the siblings who opposed Phrasavath’s claim said no decision has been made on whether to appeal.

Attorney General Ken Paxton declined an offer to be party to the case and thus is not in a position to appeal.

Herman’s ruling came after an hourlong hearing in the Travis County Courthouse. Phrasavath challenged the constitutionality of the prohibition on gay marriage as a first step toward establishing her relationship as a common-law marriage.

Phrasavath and Powell began living together in Austin shortly after Phrasavath proposed in 2007, leading to a marriage ceremony that, though not recognized under Texas law, was performed one year later by a Zen priest in Driftwood southwest of Austin.

Texas’ marriage ban was previously struck down by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia. The ruling was stayed until the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals could weigh in on the subject as it is considering a similar challenge to the ban.