Oh snap! A federal judge in Texas has struck down the Lone Star State's ban on same-sex marriage. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on marriage last summer overrules the state's constitutional amendment,, approved by voters in 2005.
“Today’s court decision is not made in defiance of the great people of Texas or the Texas Legislature, but in compliance with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent,” he said in his order, The Dallas Morning News reports. “Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our U.S. Constitution.”
Garcia has stayed his ruling from taking effect until it goes through the appeal process, so couples can't jump the broom just yet. The case, brought forward in a lawsuit by couples Cleo DeLeon and Nicole Dimetman, and Victor Holmes and Mark Phariss, is one of 23 pending state-level marriage cases.
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