Dallas News
Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott
Two Dallas men trying to end their Massachusetts marriage in Texas will be the subject of an appellate hearing today in a downtown courtroom.
The appeal pits Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott against family court Judge Tena Callahan, who accepted the case last fall and ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
But a voter-approved state constitutional amendment and the Texas Family Code prohibit same-sex marriages or civil unions, and Abbott is arguing that a Texas court can't dissolve a marriage that it doesn't recognize.
Abbott said last fall that he was appealing the ruling "to defend the traditional definition of marriage that was approved by Texas voters."
Gov. Rick Perry, who backed the constitutional prohibition on gay marriage in 2005, has also said that he believes the ruling is flawed and should be appealed.
The Dallas men, identified only as J.B. and H.B. in court filings, had an amicable separation, said divorce attorney Peter Schulte, who represents J.B. He said the couple, who married in 2006 and separated two years later, simply want an official divorce.
Schulte wrote in a court filing that the state's arguments were an attempt "to mislead the court in an effort to pursue the attorney general's own political agenda."
In March 2003, a Texas court became the first one outside Vermont, another of the few states where gay marriage is legal, to grant the dissolution of a civil union. After a challenge by Abbott, the judge reversed his decision.
The appeal pits Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott against family court Judge Tena Callahan, who accepted the case last fall and ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
But a voter-approved state constitutional amendment and the Texas Family Code prohibit same-sex marriages or civil unions, and Abbott is arguing that a Texas court can't dissolve a marriage that it doesn't recognize.
Abbott said last fall that he was appealing the ruling "to defend the traditional definition of marriage that was approved by Texas voters."
Gov. Rick Perry, who backed the constitutional prohibition on gay marriage in 2005, has also said that he believes the ruling is flawed and should be appealed.
The Dallas men, identified only as J.B. and H.B. in court filings, had an amicable separation, said divorce attorney Peter Schulte, who represents J.B. He said the couple, who married in 2006 and separated two years later, simply want an official divorce.
Schulte wrote in a court filing that the state's arguments were an attempt "to mislead the court in an effort to pursue the attorney general's own political agenda."
In March 2003, a Texas court became the first one outside Vermont, another of the few states where gay marriage is legal, to grant the dissolution of a civil union. After a challenge by Abbott, the judge reversed his decision.
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