First same-sex couple legally marries in Texas
Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Texas days after a state judge struck down the Lone Star State’s ban on same-sex marriage.
State District Judge David Wahlberg ordered Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir to grant the couple a marriage license on Thursday morning after being petitioned by the couple’s attorney. Wahlberg also ordered the county clerk to waive the 72-hour waiting period to receive a marriage license.
On Tuesday, Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman declared the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in a separate estate case.
In his Thursday order, Wahlberg wrote that the “unconstitutional denial of a marriage license to Plaintiffs will cause immediate and irreparable damage to Plaintiffs based solely on their status as a same-sex couple. That irreparable injury includes the ongoing violation of their rights under the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution through the denial of their vital personal right to marry.”
It appears Goodfriend and Bryant will be the only same-sex couples to marry in Texas at this time. According to the Austin American-Statesman, another same-sex couple were denied a marriage license Thursday at the same county offices.
A case in which a federal judge found Texas’ same-sex marriage ban in violation of the U.S. Constitution a year ago is currently awaiting judgement by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, along with marriage cases out of Louisiana and Mississippi.
”This is a historic day for fairness and equality in Texas,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, in a statement. “The family that Suzanne and Sarah have built together over more than three decades of commitment to each other mirrors the love between so many same-sex couples in Texas, all of whom deserve the freedom to marry. The 5th Circuit should quickly affirm Texas’ lower court ruling and ensure the freedom to marry across the Lone Star State.”
Yesterday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced he had intervened in the Travis County probate case, asking the Texas Supreme Court to issue a stay and overturn the ruling.
“Texas law is clear on the definition of marriage, and I will fight to protect this sacred institution and uphold the will of Texans, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of a constitutional amendment defining the union as between one man and one woman,” Paxton said in a statement. “The probate judge’s misguided ruling does not change Texas law or allow the issuance of a marriage license to anyone other than one man and one woman.”
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