On May 28th, The Human Rights Campaign decried Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, a Republican, for signing the so-called Texas Defense of Marriage
Act (DOMA) into law. The blatantly discriminatory bill defines marriage
as reserved for a man and a woman, and allows Texas to deny recognition
of same-sex civil unions entered into in other states.
"This law blatantly discriminates against gay men and women living in
Texas and is destined to be overturned," said HRC National Field
Director Seth Kilbourn. "The Texas DOMA prevents gay and lesbian
families in Texas from accessing basic protections that most American
families take for granted. History does not look kindly upon leaders
like Governor Perry and the Texas Legislature who let prejudice guide
their public policy."
Having previously passed the state Senate, the DOMA overwhelmingly
passed the Texas House April 30 by a 118-9 vote. The Senate accepted
House amendments May 16.
The bill was authored by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, and
sponsored by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa.
Chisum, from the floor of the Statehouse, blatantly admitted the
prejudicial nature of the bill. "I've never made any statement that
this bill did not discriminate. This bill does discriminate. It allows
only for a man and a woman to be married in this state and be recognized
in marriage in this state. This bill does discriminate against any
other kind of marriage."
"From the onset, the new leadership in Texas has placed this bill on the
fast track, pushing its social agenda despite a $10 billion deficit,
insurance crisis and school finance crisis," said Randall Ellis,
executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas – the
statewide gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group that
spearheaded efforts to defend this bill. "GLBT Texans are denied
hundreds upon hundreds of rights because they are not allowed to marry
the person they love. The time for demanding equality is now. This is
not the end of this issue."
The law is particularly damaging in light of an Urban Institute analysis
of newly released Census 2000 data commissioned by the Human Rights
Campaign Foundation. The analysis shows that the average Texas family
headed by a same-sex couple shares many similar characteristics with
other state families — including the number of children being raised,
home ownership and home value.
For instance, the study showed that the average same-sex couple with
children in Texas is raising 1.9 children, while other average couples
are raising 1.97 children. The DOMA prevents those children's same-sex
parents from marrying, which in turn denies children access to Social
Security survivor benefits and other protections from their parents that
most American children take for granted.
"The Texas DOMA is causing very real and powerful harm to families with
gay and lesbian parents across the state," said Kilbourn. "This
discriminatory law singles out same-sex Texan couples and their families
and denies them basic protections and rights that other state couples
rely on to help build stable and secure homes for their families. This
does not serve the overall public interest."
The Legislature considered several other anti-gay measures during the
78th legislative session. Several anti-gay parenting bills died when the
May 8 deadline for moving bills out of committee expired. Republican
House Speaker Tom Craddick lead efforts on a bill, H.B. 1911, that
sought to prevent gays and lesbians from foster parenting. More than 250
people signed in against the measure at its hearing, compared with just
one who signed in favor of it. Forty-three people testified against the
bill, while only two people spoke in favor of it.
Two other anti-GLBT parenting bills – H.B. 194, another anti-gay foster
parenting bill by Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, and H.B. 916, an
anti-gay adoption bill by Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville – were left
pending in the House Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues by
its chair, Harold Dutton, D-Houston. Dutton did not bring up these
bills for consideration, citing other concerns.
"A person's sexual orientation has absolutely no bearing on his or her
ability to be a good and loving parent," said Lisa Bennett, who runs HRC
Foundation's FamilyNet project (www.hrc.org/familynet), the most
comprehensive resource on GLBT families. "This law flies in the face of
the majority opinion among medical and scientific experts who say that
gay and lesbian parents are as capable as anyone else in providing safe,
nurturing home environments. Now thousands of children across the state
with same-sex parents may have been harmed in profound ways by these
hurtful bills. How anyone can possibly think this serves the best
interest of children is beyond me."
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