They ruled gay partners aren’t entitled to the same benefits that straight partners are. I’m fuming.
http://lgbtweekly.com/2017/07/01/texas-supreme-court-rules-to-undermine-marriage-equality/
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Eh not a surprise. Texas has just recently discovered fire so they are a little behind the times.
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Yet again, state which prides itself on upholding individual liberty moves to restrict individual liberty, but it’s okay—maybe you can’t be happy, but you can still have a gun.
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Thats how you keep a nice low population density.
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"The Supreme Court held in Obergefell that the Constitution requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages to the same extent that they license and recognize opposite-sex marriages,” the Texas court wrote, “but it did not hold that states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons.”
Well, it did, actually. That’s what “recognize to the same extent” means.
I guess another way to read their decision is “…but we don’t give a shit what the Supreme Court says about faggots.”
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I really wish passing Constitutional Amendments were still possible, it would be nice to at least dream of a modern ERA shutting down these fools once and for all.
It seems we can only hope for symbolic liberal victories at the national level, which then get whittled apart by localities, continually poking the boundaries like rebellious children, to reduce them to irrelevancy. Sure technically you can get married / get an abortion / protect voting rights etc but in practice… 
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That’s just begging for a lawsuit. How long before the ACLU start looking for likely candidates?
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What could possibly go wrong? 
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Sure, but so what? The only place it can go is the Supreme Court, which leaves open the possibilities it would refuse to listen to the case or even rule in Texas’s favor, and gay rights across the country would get eroded to meaninglessness by the states. Maybe that’s only a 1% chance, but it’s still a chance.
This kind of stuff, even on local levels, has the power to terrorize everyone with uncertainty.
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No, we’re making real progress, but that progress is measured in generations. Think in terms of the southern states trying to obstruct emancipation, and how long that’s been going on. Government doesn’t fully change until the culture changes, and even then it lags behind by a generation or two (if you’re in the south). But, the culture does eventually change.
If you imagined that the US Supreme Court decision was establishing a new norm, then events like these may seem like setbacks, but its better thought of as having set a benchmark that won’t be fully realized for decades. Really, it’s states like Texas who are winning symbolic victories by expressing their (ultimately futile) discontent with the forces of history.
Think about it from their point of view. A state supreme court decision that will eventually be overturned might feel good for about a minute, but it does nothing to change the fact that network television sitcoms now feature same sex couples. If you’re a homophobe, you were probably thrilled on election day, but by now you’ve gone back to feeling bitter that your bigot-president isn’t receiving the respect you think he deserves.
The Texas Supreme Court decision and similarly obstructionist laws (and, indeed, Trump himself) are intended to spite you. They’re motivated by people who are losing and who feel themselves losing, and far from losing hope, you should expect this as an indicator of the fact that society is, in fact, progressing.
Albeit, not as fast as we would have hoped.
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When it comes to Texas and all those backwards states…
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#Well, um, so is straight marriage.
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Don’t worry. Once Kennedy retires, and Trump appoints someone as batshit insane as Gorsuch, the Texas decision will be in line with what SCOTUS requires.
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That’s ironic; I know plenty of people who say the same of marriage in general.
Ya beat me to it.
That said, I agree with everyone who’s already chimed in that this is a slam dunk lawsuit just waiting to happen.
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It’s scary and bizarre that we’ve so quickly gone from “Hell yeah, take it to the Supreme Court!” to “oh christ, whatever you do, don’t let this get to the Supreme Court.”
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Kennedy hasn’t retired yet. It could go the other way.
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I’m currently placing my hope on the humanity* of the Supreme Court justices. This is a blatant “Fuck you!” to eight of the nine members and i think even the three of those who dissented in Obergefell will have some interest in putting the Texas supreme court in their place.
* In the sense of acting like human beings, not necessarily acting like good human beings. I.e., i have faith in the complete mixed bag that is human nature.
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One of my kids had to get married so she could accompany her SO to the US when he was posted there. Still pretty annoyed about it.
I guess from the PoV of the rest of the world, it’s just as well the US spends so much time and money on internal conflict, because if you ever gave up and let the Republicans get on with it, WW2 would look like an Episcopalian tea party on the lawn with cucumber sandwiches.
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Iron dome around Austin, though, surely?
Arthur C Clarke (who was gay) referred in passing in one of his books to “Texarab oilmen”. I guess he had noticed the cultural similarities.
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Yeah we’ll save Austin. Not Dell though, that company can get caught in the blast.
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