News Digest

In the heart of cowboy country, a same-sex marriage license

A Texas county judge issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple on Thursday, the first legal certification for a gay couple in the state since its voters a decade ago passed a measure defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Despite the state’s longstanding ban, a one-time license was given to just one couple, Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant, for special medical reasons. However, it’s not immediately clear if the couple’s marriage will have legal standing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an immediate appeal of Thursday’s ruling to the Texas Supreme Court.

[They] must be granted a marriage license because not doing so violates their rights under the … 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

State District Judge David Wahlberg

Texas’ ban on gay marriage was declared unconstitutional in federal court last year, but the judge stayed the ruling to allow the state to appeal. Legal experts said there was at least one case of a marriage between a same-sex couple in the early 1970s and none since the voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage went into effect.

We were both born in Texas, came back to Texas after we met to build a family and establish our lives here. We plan to die here, and we have waited to get married because, as proud Texans, we want a Texas marriage license.

Suzanne Bryant