Texas May Strip Away Transgender Marriage Rights

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/04/25/texas-may-strip-away-transgender-marriage-rights/
4/25/11

AUSTIN (AP) – Two years after Texas became one of the last states to allow transgendered people to use proof of their sex change to get a marriage license, Republican lawmakers are trying to roll back the clock.

Advocates for the transgendered say a proposal to bar transgendered people from getting married smacks of discrimination and would put their legally-granted marriages in danger of being nullified if challenged in court.

One of the Republican sponsors of the legislation said he's simply trying to clean up the 2009 law in a state that bans same-sex marriage under the Constitution.

"The Texas Constitution," Sen. Tommy Williams said, "clearly defines marriage between one man and one woman."

Just another example of the government forcing its unwanted control and wishes on its tax paying citizens.  What happened to the statement:

"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are institued among Men, deriving their Powers from the Consent of the Governed"    - The Declaration of Independance.

More from the 'get government out of our lives' party.  Is this smaller government, or were they only referring to their IQs?

And, to be fair, the DoI was never a governance document.  It was a manifesto for a revolution.

I just love how the AP and other media outlets have blown the proposed pieces of legislation (both SB723 and HB3098) out of proportion.  One should not be able to use a court order as the sole proof of identity for a marriage license.  The goal of the Order is to change other documents.  And given that the revisions to the law will also remove the ability to use MOST non-photo forms of ID (to include the birth certificate), those who use the legislation to claim the sky is falling because they were born somewhere that won't change birth certificates lose that leg to stand on. 

Is it really that difficult to present in the Clerk's office with a drivers license?  Or, in the alternative, any of the other identified forms of photo identification (which would include State-issued ID cards, passports, FAA pilot certificates, military ID and a number of other items)?   

And, my guess is that what pushes the issues for documentation is that there are too many judges that grant a change of gender marker for people who have not had surgery. 

There is too much reliance on cases such as Littleton and the Araguz situation where the reality is that the one case in Texas at the appellate level involved someone who never bothered to change their birth certificate until AFTER the spouse had died and litigation commenced in the matter of the wrongful death and other matters.  When one marries without having gotten paperwork in order, I fail to see how it is the fault of the government when they seek to clarify documentation requirements. 


And yes, I DO live in the State where these pieces of legislation were proposed.

I really love it when AP treats the government of Texas like a legitimate political entity and not a right-wing clown car playing at making policy.

Quote from: tekla on April 25, 2011, 08:46:50 PM
I really love it when AP treats the government of Texas like a legitimate political entity and not a right-wing clown car playing at making policy.

Makes me wonder if you (or the AP or any other group up in arms and mislabeling what this actually does) have actually bothered to read the strike-through language of either 3098 or 723.

Of course, I would much rather they spend the few minutes wasted on these two proposals and get back to focusing on getting our speed limit up to 85 and rid of the infernal drop to 65 at night.  Not to mention a host of other pending items that actually WILL affect my life.

   

Whether the DOI was a governing document or not it is still lays down the principles upon which this country was orginally founded.

Yeah I read that stuff, and the analysis too - reminds me of a prior life I lived once upon a dream long ago and far away now.  And I even know how to read that stuff, which is almost a shame.  I would have made more money filling my brain with tech manuals and computer programing for sound and lighting instead.

I just think that with all the problems Texas is facing, mounting state debt, declining economics (other than oil), an educational system that is racing for the bottom like a rocket on steroids, a burgeoning (and ridiculously expensive) prison population that goes along with a rising crime rate (particularly post-Katrina, so its not all Texas's fault, I know that), some of the worst water quality problems in the US, and a ledg that is only part time - well, I'd think this kind of bedroom legislation would rank about 3,984 on it's Top 10 list of things-to-do.

And the DoI didn't even found a 'county' it began a revolution that ended in a Confederation which was more of a collection of states than it was a county.  You don't even get a 'county' in the nation sense until the Constitution, which starts out:  We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.  And the 'pursuit of happiness' is really in the John Locke original take much closer to "life, liberty and property' but Jefferson changed it to make it more universal.

for those so inclined to be up in arms about what the Bill actually does NOT do, SB723 has been placed on the Intent calendar for tomorrow...