Texas Supreme Court rules against benefits for same-sex couples

[SophieD]

Texas Supreme Court rules against benefits for same-sex couples

Washington Blade; June 30, 2017 at 12:22 pm EDT | by Chris Johnson

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/06/30/texas-supreme-court-denied-benefits-married-sex-couples/

Writing for the court, Justice Jeffrey Boyd determined the 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges "is not the end" on the same-sex marriage issue and state workers have no established right to obtain benefits, such as health insurance, for their same-sex spouses in the same way as other employees.

"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, but it did not hold that states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons, and — unlike the Fifth Circuit in De Leon — it did not hold that the Texas DOMAs are unconstitutional," Boyd writes.

[SophieD]

I find it astonishing that the Texas Supreme Court would hold that same-sex married couples can be denied benefits provided to other married couples.

[AnneK]

It's Texas.  What did you expect?

[SophieD]

It's Texas.  What did you expect?

I know - but the sheer meanness of it....  I grew up in Texas, but I can't fathom the mean-spiritedness, from the very top of the government.

[Lady Sarah]

I know - but the sheer meanness of it....  I grew up in Texas, but I can't fathom the mean-spiritedness, from the very top of the government.

Really? These are the same people that put forth a version of North Carolina's bathroom bill, still being debated.

[sammie-em]

I'm really getting tired of Texas.... I can't believe my state is imposing all these restrictions to make people like myself, and others lives more difficult for no reason other than "God".