Texas state district judge Barbara Nellermoe has ruled the Lone Star state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The case was brought by a woman, Allison Flood Lesh (image), seeking to divorce her wife of three years, to gain visitation rights for her child.
Judge Nellermoe Tuesday ruled that a “failure in Texas to afford the same presumption of parenthood to the wife of a child’s birth mother as it does to a husband of the birth mother violates the Equal Protection Clause.”
After the ruling, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, running to become the next governor, demanded the state be allowed to defend its law in court. He’ll be appealing the ruling.
There is no indication that same-sex couples in Texas can now marry.
In February, U.S. Federal District Court Judge Orlando Garcia found Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, but stayed his ruling pending appeal.
Yesterday also, a new poll found that, for the first time ever, more Texas residents support the right of same-sex couples to marry than oppose it — by a one-percent margin. Now 48 percent of Texans support marriage equality, 47 percent do not.
Watch as Allison Flood, who was wed in Washington, D.C., shares her joy over the ruling that will reunite her with her daughter:
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/template/flashplayers/jwplayer/dev/files/embed.html?video=2014/04/clips/YzI2YzQzM2E4NTlm&cdn=kabb&adzone=/4756/KABB/Web/News&autoP=false&poster=/news/features/top-stories/stories//images/YzI2YzQzM2E4NTlm_3281.jpg&event=iframe player
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story reported the ruling was released Wednesday. It was released Tuesday.Â
Video via KABB Fox 29
Hat tip:Â Joe Jervis