HOUSE BILL 1745 REPRESENTS A LEGISLATIVE TEMPER TANTRUM BY LAWMAKERS OPPOSED TO FREEDOM TO MARRY FOR LGBT COUPLES
Bill in House Hearing Today Would Set Texas on a Collision Course with the Supreme Court and History, TFN President Says
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2015
Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller today criticized proposed legislation that would bar state and local officials from enforcing a Supreme Court order to issue marriage licenses or otherwise recognize marriage for same-sex couples.
The Texas House State Affairs Committee is considering the legislation, House Bill 1745 by state Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, at a public hearing today. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide, probably by the end of June, whether the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
“This legislation represents a temper tantrum by lawmakers who refuse to accept that the U.S. Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law for all American families, including those headed by gay or lesbian couples.” Miller said. “Passing this bill would put our state on a collision course with both the U.S. Supreme Court and the harsh judgment of history. Texas would not fare well in either case.”
In addition to barring public officials from recognizing same-sex marriages or issuing licenses for such unions, HB 1745 would also move from county clerks to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office authority over issuing marriage licenses.
“Texas today is one of just 13 states in which same-sex couples don’t have the freedom to marry,” Miller said. “So the question is whether legislators in this Capitol will stand in the courthouse door – much like a former Alabama governor during the Civil Rights era – demanding ‘discrimination now, discrimination tomorrow, discrimination forever’ when it comes to marriage for same-sex couples. If so, history’s judgment will be just as harsh as it was on the holdouts who supported segregation and bans on interracial marriage.”
###
The Texas Freedom Network is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of religious and community leaders who support religious freedom, individual liberties and public education.
