Lambda Legal Hails Decision Striking Down Texas Marriage Ban

A U.S. District Court judge in Texas today struck down Texas’ discriminatory ban denying same-sex couples the ability to marry in the state. The ruling out of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas/San Antonio Division came in the case De Leon et. al. v. Perry et. al. The judge issuing the decision immediately stayed the ruling pending an expected appeal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kenneth D. Upton, Senior Counsel in Lambda Legal’s South Central Regional Office in Dallas, said:

The yellow rose of Texas has a distinctly rainbow hue today. That the judge in this case saw fit to issue a preliminary injunction preventing Texas state officials from enforcing the discriminatory marriage bans illustrates his belief that the state was unlikely to prevail at trial. As important, this ruling extends the impressive run of recent victories that have stretched from Utah to Virginia. The walls of exclusion continue to crumble as court after court after court recognizes that denying marriage to same-sex couples is discrimination, pure and simple.

Congratulations to the attorneys in this case -- Barry A. Chasnoff, Daniel McNeel Lane, Jr., Jessica M. Weisel, Matthew E. Pepping, and Michael P. Cooley of the firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer& Feld LLP, as well as San Antonio Attorney Frank Stenger-Castro -- and to the plaintiffs. We look forward to the continued progress of this case and to the continued march towards justice for LGBT individuals and their families across Texas.

Lambda Legal is involved in two marriage-related cases in Texas: In the Matter of the Marriage of J.B. and H.B., a divorce case before the Texas Supreme Court where Lambda Legal filed an amicus brief; and Freeman v. Parker and the City of Houston, where Lambda Legal is representing several married City of Houston employees who are at risk of losing city benefits for their same-sex spouses.

Read the press release.