A Texas one-step

A state district judge ordered the Travis County Clerk to give Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant a marriage license. The couple promptly got married. This came after a Travis County probate judge struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban. A federal judge had struck down the ban a year ago, but that decision is before the 5th Circuit Court. The Travis County Clerk has said marriage licenses to same-sex couples must be court-ordered. So only one couple for now.

As expected the state Attorney General is in a tizzy and asked for a stay from the state Supremes. The Texas Supremes granted that stay, but did not invalidate the one marriage. That didn't satisfy the AG, who is considering other ways to invalidate Sarah and Suzanne's marriage. Grinch.



It is cold enough in America that residents in Atlanta are complaining of the cold and there is significant ice on Niagara Falls. Detroit is forecast for -9F tonight.



A Richland, Washington florist refused to do the flowers for a gay couple. A county court has now ruled against the owner, saying that while religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment, actions based on those beliefs aren't. An appeal is likely.



Two bills made it out of Oklahoma's House Judiciary Committee. The first bill would (1) fire any gov't employee who gives out a same-sex marriage license, (2) bars public money to enforce any court order that requires giving licenses to same-sex couples, (3) fire any judge who tries to enforce same-sex marriage, (4) declares itself above "any contrary federal court ruling." They mean business. The second bill would get rid of marriage licenses, replacing them with marriage certificates, which only certain people could submit to the state.



I had reported the Arkansas legislature had passed a bill banning local non-discrimination protections for sexual minorities. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is torn – between burdensome business regulation and the loss of local control. That gays and lesbians lose protections escapes his concern. So Hutchinson is conflicted enough he won't sign the bill – but he won't veto it either, letting it become law.

A similar bill was approved in Arizona last year. Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed it at the urging of business leaders. But in Arkansas the business leaders are strangely quiet.



As for same-sex marriage in Alabama, a few of the current crop of GOP prez. candidates aren't exactly thundering in their condemnation. They seem to be reduced to claiming it is something that states should decide.

An Arkansas Supreme Court Justice (not Roy Moore) has given his opinions on same-sex marriage. Somehow allowing gays to marry completely voids the entire marriage law in the state and nobody should be able to get married. It seems gay marriages threaten the constitutionality of all marriages.