Texas Senate Approves Bill Allowing County Clerks To Deny Same-Sex Couples Marriage Licenses

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Senate this week gave initial approval for a bill designed to allow county clerks to opt out of issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples over religious objections—bucking a national trend supporting such unions and in defiance of a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ostensibly ended state bans on gay nuptials.

Support for the bill, in a 21-10 vote, was passed largely along party lines on Tuesday save for the support of Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a Democrat from Brownsville, Texas, who has aligned himself with Republicans on similar issues resonant to conservatives.

A final vote on the matter is scheduled on Wednesday, when Senate Bill 522 will go to the House. This year's session is packed with touchstone issues in the so-called "cultural wars" separating Democrats from Republicans, including a proposal to ban transgender individuals from using public bathrooms labeled with genders with which they identify.

Such cultural issues have seen some GOP dissidents, including House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, who has been vocal in questioning the necessity of a so-called "bathroom bill," saying it is not among his priorities. The bathroom bill has been aggressively championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has taken to national media to promote a cause he has framed as an attempt to prevent sexual assaults of women and children at the hands of transgender people.

As for SB 522, county clerks would be allowed to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples so long as there is a judge or assistant clerk in place who would be willing to issue the license. Another provision of the bill makes allowances for the absence of a willing assistant clerk or judge, providing for agreements to be made with officials at nearby counties able to electronically issue marriage licenses.

The bill was authored by State Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican from Granbury, Texas. His bill comes amid a Texas backdrop where conservative politicians—chiefly Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott—aren't shy about infusing their social media postings with theology, in rebuke of the ideals of church-and-state separation.

Attorney General Ken Paxton also regularly wades into the waters of culture wars, recently inserting himself into a controversy in Killeen, Texas, to defend the right of a school to hang a poster with a biblical passage alerting to a Chrisitan religious and, in another recent turn, voicing concern over the use of a prayer room at another school in Frisco, Texas, in questioning its possible use to allow Islamic students to pray.

Having already waded into the Killeen religious flap, Paxton dispatched Deputy Attorney General Andrew Leonie to pen a letter to the Frisco ISD superintendent, questioning the legality of the prayer room: “Liberty High School’s policy should be neutral toward religion,” the letter reads, as quoted by WFAA and multiple other media outlets. “However, it appears that students are being treated different based on their religious beliefs. Such a practice, of course, is irreconcilable with our nation’s enduring commitment to religious liberty.”

The GOP stance on same-sex marriage and, to a lesser degree, transgender bathroom use, also highlights the recalcitrance conservatives exhibit toward established guidelines outlined through legal rulings or settled public sector interests (as is the case with bathroom use policies usually sussed out independently by corporate interests with unisex bathrooms).

One such example of recalcitrance is the Texas Voter ID law. Just this week, a federal judge reiterated the discriminatory effects of the state's Voter ID law requiring forms of photo identification in order to vote. Crafted in 2011, the Voter ID law has emerged as one of the nation's most stringent, with the net effect of marginalizing wide swaths of minority voters less likely to possess the outlined forms of identification its provisions outline.

Despite twice being ruled as violating safeguards of the Voting Rights Act in federal courts and being strongly opposed by the Department of Justice in the previous administration, the Texas Voter ID law continues to be pushed by conservatives. A ruling this week again ruled it unconstitutional, but Republican lawmakers are expected to take it back to an appeals court while showing signs of willingness to let the matter ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Attempts in Texas to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage aligns with similar efforts under way in North Carolina, where three GOP lawmakers are seeking to nullify the high court's previous on marriage equality. Like Texas conservatives, those in North Carolina also tried passing a "bathroom bill," a measure narrowly repealed after it sparked widespread economic hemorrhaging throughout the state via boycotts protesting the efforts.

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