Polls show that a growing majority of Americans support the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples, but that’s not the case specifically among Republicans. In fact, the Texas Republican Party — largely controlled by the religious right for the past two decades — is particularly hostile to the freedom to marry. And some GOP elected officials have been insisting that Texas should essentially ignore a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that strikes down bans on same-sex marriage.
Here are some Texas Republican leaders who are taking such an anti-constitutional position:
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, speaking in April:
“If the court tries to do this it will be rampant judicial activism. It will be lawlessness, it will be fundamentally illegitimate.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s chief law enforcement officer, in May refused to say whether he would obey a Supreme Court ruling and even suggested that the Texas Legislature could pass a bill blocking the implementation of such a ruling:
“I think it’s really difficult–first of all, we don’t know that’s gonna happen, second of all, we don’t know exactly how that opinion is going to be written. So, you know, that opinion can be written, you know, numerous ways, hundreds of different ways, so it’s really difficult to speculate about what happens in relation to a particular law. In addition, we don’t know what exactly the legislature is gonna pass. We don’t know if it’s gonna pass, and we don’t know whether there are gonna be amendments or changes to it. So to try to match up two things, one that hasn’t passed, and obviously the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled, it’s difficult to decide any determination about how that’s gonna work together.”
Harris County (Houston) Clerk Stan Stanart suggested that the state attorney general — Paxton — is the decider, regardless of the Supreme Court ruling:
“I’m going to have to follow whatever the state attorney general’s guidance is. They’re destroying an institution, the institution of marriage, but I’ll follow what the current law of the land is.”
State Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, argues that the Supreme Court doesn’t have “enforcement authority” and tried (unsuccessfully) to pass a bill essentially saying that Texas would not obey a court ruling for the freedom to marry:
“We will simply say, not in Texas.”
Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay echoed the enforcement argument:
“A ruling by the Supreme Court is nothing but an opinion if the legislative branch and the executive branch do not enforce it. Not only that, if the states would just invoke the 10th Amendment and assert their sovereignty, they can defy a ruling by the Supreme Court. It’s in the Constitution. We can tell the court what cases they can hear
Of course, Texas doesn’t have the constitutional option of defying a Supreme Court ruling, but politicians might take action to slow down implementation of the ruling. Officials tried that when the high court struck down school segregation — slowing down integration in Texas for many years.
(Hat tip: Talking Points Memo)
They really are a lucky bunch, they can do and say anything they want, because in the future, the same words used to describe themselves, are the ones they describe the most successful Conservative Christians in the history of mankind: “Hitler? Oh no, he wasn’t a “real” Christian!”
Isn’t it just too wonderful that our finest Texans are threatening to to to prison to defend their bigotry?
The so-called religious right needs to have all of their power shoved up their rectums. To my way of thinking,they are just as bad as the right wing Islamists.
What is it going to take to yank those hypocrites into the 21st century? I’m more than tired of them trying to run our lives.
In 1966 I started to work for American Airlines in reservations. At that time it was an ideal place to work not only for me – it paid well – but for homosexuals as well. It took me a while to figure out but we had non-rev flight privileges and a gay or lesbian could appear to be straight as a stick in Dallas-Fort Worth but could take off on weekends to New York or San Francisco where their lifestyles were tolerated. Like the rest of the human race there were some that I didn’t care for and some that I liked a lot. One of the finest young men I knew was the first in our office to die of AIDS. I honestly believe that had homosexual marriage been allowed then that terrible disease would not have spread so quickly.
Elimination of discrimination is not just about medical benefits. When homosexual marriage is legal they will be able to:
Sponsor their husband/wife for immigration benefits
File income taxes jointly
Have joint parenting rights, such as access to children’s school records
Have next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions
Have family visitation rights, such as a visit to a spouse in a hospital or prison
Receive custodial rights to children, shared property, child support and alimony after divorce
Qualify for domestic violence intervention
Receive spousal funeral and bereavement leave
Inherit property
Receive spousal benefits when an officer is killed in the line of duty
Receive Social Security payments
Have immunity from testifying against spouse
Apply for housing assistance if in a low-income family
Apply for copyright renewal for works created by their deceased spouse
Receive spousal recognition for policies governing burial at Arlington National Cemetery
And the list goes on…..
Why do conservatives hate Article III and Article VI so badly?
Same-sex marriage is now legal in Mexico:
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/06/16/414964843/how-mexico-quietly-legalized-same-sex-marriage
Thousands of people immigrate legally from Mexico to Texas each year, so we’ll see how the Texas legal system is going to deal with families headed by same-sex couples (Canada has also had same-sex marriage for some time now).
I do not understand the phrase “run our lives”. What they are trying to do is live in a society that operates according to fixed natural laws and homosexuality and gay marriage is not natural. And for thousands of years marriage has never ever been recognized as between a man and a man or a women and a women.
Try putting two positive ends of a battery together. They repel.
“homosexuality and gay marriage is not natural”
Yes it is!
“Marriage” even in the Bible has changed many times, and that covers the just the last 2,000 years of Christians.
Look up “Two-Spirit” people, who all but were snuffed out by Christians here on the North American continent.
Its actually quite “un-natural” for one man and one woman to be married only to each other for their whole life.
The arguement about “family” is lame, as the reason for having a family has changed many times since the dawn of mankind.
The only people who want minorites to have no rights are the majority that always claims to be the minority being victims…this being Conservative Christians in the USA.
These are the most discpicable people in this country, ALWAYS on the “wrong side of history”. With that comes their ability to white-wash their history and say “Oh, but they werent ‘real’ Christians”…. they do this with Hitler ALL the time.
Marriage hasn’t changed in the Bible. Men have changed and they have changed the interpretation to fit meanings.
Suffering is going to get worse because of man’s rebellion and his rebellion is evident in homosexuality.
Man is not perfectable in and of himself. Things are only going to get worse for us unless we have a foundation built on the laws of God.
“Marriage hasn’t changed in the Bible.”
guess u dont know your bible.
Let us live the way the christian bible tells us how too, and here is their god:
FUN FACTS
The God of the bible kills 371,186 people directly and orders another 1,862,265 people murdered.
The God of the Bible makes Osama Bin Laden look like a Boy Scout.
This God, is directly responsible for many mass-murders, rapes, pillage, plunder, slavery, child abuse and killing, not to mention the killing of unborn children.
Examples:
– Orders the killing of innocent people even after the Ten Commandments said “Thou shall not kill”.
– Kills 70,000 innocent people because David ordered a census of the people (1 Chronicles 21).
– Orders the destruction of 60 cities so that the Israelites can live there.
– Orders the killing of all the men, women, and children of each city, and the looting of all of value (Deuteronomy 3).
– Orders another attack and the killing of “all the living creatures of the city: men and women, young, and old, as well as oxen sheep, and asses” (Joshua 6).
– Orders the murder of all the people of Jabesh-gilead, except for the virgin girls who were taken to be forcibly raped and married. (Judges 21). When they wanted more virgins, God told them to hide alongside the road and when they saw a girl they liked, kidnap her and forcibly rape her and make her your wife.
– Orders the murder of all the worshipers of a different god in their very own church (2 Kings 10:18-27).
– Supports slavery, including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11).
– Supports Child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 and Isaiah 13:16).
– Orders Bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9).
– Orders ritual human sacrifice and animal sacrifice.
I agree with you that the God of the old testament was extremely bloodthirsty etc. but the discussion is about marriage and you failed to mention all the multiple wives, concubines, and requirements that, for example, you marry your late brother’s wife. Yes marriage changed in the Bible and has been changing ever since and it may not be better but is certainly no worse than it was in the Bible. I would encourage gay marriage rather than forcing people to live alone or to live a lie with a person of the opposite sex who will also be miserable.
Hi Corey,
Remember that God is a Holy God and the sins of people merited death. Those with many wives and concubines had it tough and judgement was upon them. And remember Israel forsook God and wanted a king. The results were loaded with disaster after disaster.
The results of Gay marriage are physically evident around the Dead Sea as that region has never recovered from the fire and brimstone. Also the remains from Sodom and Gomorrah have been found.
The rule for marriage has not changed. Man/Woman for life. Again God is immutable and has not changed. Man has changed. He is rebellious and seeks darkness.
Corey as a Christian I can’t say anything other than gay marriage is an affront to God. I won’t picket or mistreat people who believe different from me.
As a teacher I don’t care about lots of things. What I tell my students is that it isn’t the side they take that is important but that they can logically clearly and with respect state and defend positions. I want my students to be able to succeed and get to college or the workforce.
When Same-Sex Marriage Was A Christian Rite.
By ThosPayne
[Excerpt]
A Kiev art museum contains a icon from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel, showing two robedChristian saints, St. Sergius and St. Bacchus. Between them is a traditional Roman ‘pronubus’ (a best man), overseeing a wedding. It is Christ.
They angered Emperor Maximian when exposed as ‘secret Christians’ by refusing to enter a pagan temple, were sent to Syria circa 303 CE where Bacchus is thought to have died while being flogged. Sergius survived torture, later beheaded.
Their close relationship has led many modern scholars to believe they were lovers, the most compelling evidence, the oldest text of their martyrology, the NT Greek describes them as “erastai,” or “lovers”. Contrary to myth, Christianity’s concept of marriage hasn’t been set in stone since Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.
For the Church to ignore evidence in its own archives would be cowardly and deceptive. It proves that for the last two millennia, in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Christendom, from Ireland to Istanbul, in heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as valid expressions of a [Christian] god-given love and commitment to another person, a love that could be celebrated, honored and blessed, through the Eucharist in the name of, and in the presence of, Jesus Christ.
Source: http://www.christianity-revealed.com/cr/files/whensamesexmarriagewasachristianrite.html
Hi Cory,
Catholics are not Christians, they are Catholics and also there is no cure for apostacy.
Jesus Himself said the purpose of God is that a man and women are joined together for life.
Enjoy reading your comments. Hopefully we can find other things to have fun discussions with.
“Jesus Himself said the purpose of God is that a man and women are joined together for life.”
1) Where in the Bible?
2) For procreation specifically
3) He never said anything anti-gay
4) Catholics are Christians
“…gay marriage is an affront to God.”
1) Whose “god”
2) Where is this stated?
Cory
Give me time I am about to leave for the day. I will get back with you ASAP. 🙂
First off, before u go to any trouble trying to convince me, I don’t believe in the god of the bible OT and NT. I am agnostic/atheist just usually calling myself an Atheist. So I appreciate any effort you were/are willing to put into changing my belief system or converting me. On a side not, I have delved into many religions and belief systems, and that is what has made me who I am today and convinced me, religion does more harm than good, and I know religion has motivated and moved people to do good deeds, but again, the harm shadows any good in my eyes. I have no problem with other people’s life styles, as long as they don’t force it down my throat, which is what Conservative Christians have been doing on the North American continent prior to our Founding Fathers. Those who believe our laws should be based on the bible, want to live in a theocracy, where minorities always suffer. Studies have shown, the more secular a country, the happier the people who live there are!
Oh no no no Corey, i am not trying to convince or sway anyone to my side or anything. I just like the dialogue.