FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Anna Núñez, Communications Coordinator, ACLU of Texas, 713-942-8146, ext. 110, [email protected]
HOUSTON – Today, the Texas Supreme Court issued an emergency stay on the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Travis County. The Texas Attorney General petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to halt same-sex marriages and voided the marriage license issued by the Travis County Clerk. On Feb. 17, Probate Judge Guy Herman’s ruling – which only applied to Travis County – declared the ban on same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses in Texas as unconstitutional.
The following statement can be attributed to Rebecca L. Robertson, Legal and Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas:
“The historic window that opened briefly today allowing same-sex couples in Texas to marry has been slammed shut again. The Texas Supreme Court has stayed two lower court rulings that declared the Texas marriage ban unconstitutional. One couple was able to marry while those rulings remained in effect, but that privilege now is being denied to other same-sex couples in our state. It is appalling that our elected officials would expend so much legal fire power to stop loving couples from marrying, but this really seems like the last gasp of marriage opponents.”
