Petition: Tell Attorney General Greg Abbott to stop defending Texas’ bans on same-sex marriage
Here is the text of the petition:
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Dear Attorney General Greg Abbott:
On Feb. 26, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia declared Texas' bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
On Feb. 27, the attorney general's office filed notice that it was appealing the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This appeal will potentially cost the state's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to the amount already spent to defend Texas' discriminatory and unconstitutional marriage bans.
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in 17 states, plus the District of Columbia. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 59 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, a record high. Attorneys general in at least seven states have chosen not to defend bans on same-sex marriage in court.
The Texas laws you have chosen to defend prohibit both same-sex marriage and civil unions. The most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed that 69 percent of Texans disagree with these laws, supporting either same-sex marriage or civil unions.
In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, determining that it violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection. Since then, 14 other state and federal courts, including the one in Texas, have ruled in favor of marriage equality on similar grounds.
Given this trend, it is inevitable that marriage equality will eventually become the law of the land. Therefore, defending Texas' marriage bans not only puts the attorney general's office on the wrong side history, it is also a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Although the attorney general is generally expected to defend state laws in court, you have broad discretion over how aggressively to do so. There is precedent for the attorney general to withdraw appeals of court rulings striking down unconstitutional state laws.
Please consider withdrawing your appeal of Judge Garcia's ruling so that same-sex couples are no longer treated as second-class citizens by the state of Texas.
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The petition is available at http://www.lonestarq.com/abbott-petition/ .
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
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