By ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News
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.”
Gov. Rick Perry, who pushed for the constitutional prohibition on gay marriage in 2005, expressed confidence that the ban would stand up to this challenge.
“Texas voters and lawmakers have repeatedly affirmed the view that marriage is defined as between one man and one woman,” he said in a prepared statement. “I believe the ruling is flawed and should be appealed.”
The men married in Cambridge, Mass., in September 2006 and later returned to Dallas.
J.B., citing “discord or conflict of personalities,” sued in January to dissolve the union in what is believed to be the first such action in Texas.
“My client is ready to get on with his life,” Schulte said. “We’re ready to roll.”
If the ruling were to stand, it would be a break from recent decisions elsewhere.
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By ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News 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 [...]
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