By Christian Alexander
The stars at night really are big and bright, deep in the now-wounded heart of Texas.
So I could see why upwardly mobile gay couples would want to make a home there. Minus a small populous of narrow minded, backward cowboys, it could be a very nice place to set up a home. Not anymore.
Not if you happen to be a gay couple.
Unlike Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, the District of Columbia, New Hampshire and New York, gay marriage is illegal in Texas. Very, very illegal in fact. In 2005, Texas voters passed a Constitutional Ban on same-sex marriage, even though State law already prohibited it. Talk about over-kill. Why not just post a sign at every entrance to the State saying “NO FAGS ALLOWED.”
Oh but wait, there’s more. I know of a couple who had been legally married in Massachusetts, had adopted a baby, and decided to start their little family in “The Great State of Texas.” Mom, Mom and baby makes three, and they were like every other married couple in the United States. The first few years were good ones – and then they weren’t so good anymore. They were so bad, in fact, that Mom and Mom decided to obtain a divorce and work out joint custody of the toddler.
The couple, Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly, sought a judge in Austin, who granted the divorce.
Unfortunately for them (and the baby) the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, appealed the decision. His reason? Because he was protecting the “traditional definition of marriage,” which he interpreted to mean the same for divorce. Therefore, since they shouldn’t have been married in the first place, they could not legally be divorced. A Dallas appeal’s court three-judge panel also agreed that the State’s same-sex marriage ban WAS Constitutional. I can almost smell the logic, but the scent is very similar to cow manure.
Angelique and Sabina tried to stick it out, but finally separated in 2007 as the arguments between them continued to mount. They eventually were able to get a higher court to dissolve the marriage amid escalating animosity between them, but that decision too is being appealed. Here it is, 2011, and as far as I was able to find out, while the couple remain happily separated, the state of their marriage is in limbo. I am forced to wonder what box they have to check on a form that asks about your marital status, Yes? No? or Undecided!
Enter J.B and his husband H.B. They too were legally married in Mass-achusetts and decided to move to Dallas. Neither man would comment on the reasons, but they decided to file for a divorce in Dallas County in 2009. A district judge, Tena Callahan (Democrat), said that she did have jurisdiction to hear the case, saying that Texas’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitional. Once again, the same Texas Attorney General swooped in and appealed to the 5th District court which overturned Callahan’s ruling to allow the divorce. Shortly thereafter, an attorney for J.B. filed a Petition for Review of the 5th District’s ruling by the Texas Supreme Court. As I am writing this, I remain unaware whether J.B and H.B. are still considered married or not, but I’ll put good money on not.
As for the rest of us? Gay couples seeking divorce are getting mixed results across country. A Pennsylvania judge refused to divorce two other women who also were married in Massachusetts while at the same time, New York grants divorces without so much as a peep.
As for me, I’ve been single for over 10 years now and have no plans of marriage. However, if there are any attractive, successful men in their early 30’s reading this, drop me a line. I’ve always wanted to go to Iowa!
Think happy thoughts–just not about most Texan officials!