Did Texas' Gay Marriage Ban Accidentally Ban Straight Marriage, Too?
A Houston lawyer says her state made a "massive mistake" in their Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and now everyone in Texas is divorced.
McClatchy reports that Barbara Ann Radnofsky is a Democratic candidate for attorney general who thinks Texas' 2005 ban on gay marriage inadvertently "eliminates marriage in Texas," every single one.
The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
Uh, whoops? Texas' current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, stands by the amendment. Others accuse Radnofsky of rabble rousing (Fancy that! Denying innocent couples the legal right to marry makes them very angry.) because the chance of all married Texans becoming unwitting divorcees apparently remains slim:
"It's a silly argument," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Legal Institute in Plano. Any lawsuit based on the wording of Subsection B, he said, would have "about one chance in a trillion" of being successful.
