The following is a statement from Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller following today’s approval of HB 4105 by the Texas House State Affairs Committee. HB 4105 is designed to subvert a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. It would bar public funding for, and bar state and local officials from, licensing or recognizing same-sex marriages in any way, regardless of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Miller said:
“No one should be fooled into thinking that Texas isn’t constitutionally bound by rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court. Rulings decades ago striking down school segregation and the ban on interracial marriage should be evidence enough. So this bill really represents a legislative temper tantrum that would lead to costly lawsuits the state would almost certainly lose. And it would thrill people in Indiana who could finally point to another state as the poster child for passing laws that discriminate against people because of who they are and whom they love.”
That won’t hold up. Texas is not a foreign country. I believe it will be struck down.
The bigots won’t give up. I fully remember when the SC said you can’t keep black and white people from getting married. Even after that ruling came down, mixed race couples still had a very difficult time in many areas of the Country. Texas, was one of the worst states when it came to bigotry against mixed race couples. Texas will again be one of the worst states when it comes to LGBT rights.
Unfortunately, there are still millions out there that still mourn the miscegenation laws and would vote for their reinstitution should the opportunity arise. There were polls taken in the last few years indicating that in some parts of the country they would even win at the (local) ballot box, i.e. in some counties a ballot initiative to ban mixed race relationships (why stop at marriage?) would be successful.
Let’s not even talk about child labour, freedom of religion, contraceptives and some other issues that pop up on a regular base, esp. in GOP primaries.
Iirc the last state struck slavery from its state constitution in the late 1980ies (OK, Britain struck the anti-witch statutes only after WW2 shortly after using them for the last time (to gag fraudulent psychics that were spilling military secrets))
When SCOTUS rules in favor of same-sex marriage it will set off a firestorm of conservative self-rightious indignation and thousands of little laws designed to make people’s lives miserable. There will be no end to it until the people of this nation vote out these morons. I’m not holding my breath.