Gay Marriage, Divorce, and Common Sense….

Irrespective of your position on Gay Marriage, you have to wonder what is going on in Texas – that's a recurring question among family law lawyers, since Texas seems to routinely dance to its own drummer. Two Texas gays got married, in Massachusetts. Residents of Texas, they later tried to file for divorce – just like straight people. You would think that dissolving a gay marriage would appeal to those who didn't like gay marriages in the first place, but not in Texas, apparently. The marriage of Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly was dissolved by the trial court. The Texas Attorney General decided to appeal, claiming the state didn't have the power to dissolve their marriage, citing a Texas law prohibiting a state agency or political subdivision from giving effect to a "right or claim to any legal protection, benefit, or responsibility asserted as a result" of a same-sex marriage. The legal position of the AG was that getting a divorce conveyed on these two a right or benefit – since they were gay, they couldn't get divorced. Since the marriage wasn't recognized by Texas, he reasoned, it couldn't be dissolved. I guess he intended they go to Massachusetts "where such people belong." 🙂 The court of appeal ducked the issue in true Texas form: It ruled that the AG hadn't intervened in the case soon enough, so he couldn't later complain about the result. That leaves to others the job of getting a divorce so they can defend their right to do so. Is it just me, or is this carrying opposition to marriage between homosexuals to an extreme? Is it just me, or should the appellate court have just bitten the bullet and told us the answer? Or is this just Dumb and Dumber on a higher level.

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