On June 30th, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that
same-sex couples are not necessarily entitled to government-dispensed spousal
benefits. This is a setback to marriage equality.
As reported by Reuters’ Jon Herskovitz, the “Republican-dominated
court said the landmark 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges,
which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide, did not resolve issues such as payments
of municipal employees’ spousal benefits.
"The Supreme Court held in Obergefell that the
Constitution requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages to the
same extent that they license and recognize opposite-sex marriages," the
Texas court wrote, "but it did not hold that states must provide the same
publicly funded benefits to all married persons."
Who brought the case? Jack
Pidgeon and Larry Hicks, a pastor and an accountant. They said the Obergefell
did not mean that same-sex couples were entitled to spousal employment
benefits.
Meanwhile, two weeks ago the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an
anti-LGBT state court ruling. Arkansas had refused to list both same-sex
spouses on birth certificates. Clarifying Obergefell, the high court said that
Obergefell means states cannot deny male-male or female-female listings as
parents on a child’s birth certificate.
My thought: Given President Trump’s selection of Neil Gorsuch
and preference for Heritage Foundation nominees, Obergefell is not a safe
precedent (meaning it might be overruled).
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