Same-Sex Marriage

Tickets On Sale for the Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase

It's been a little over a week now since voting opened, so we're just going to go ahead and ask: Have you filled out your Dallas Observer Music Awards ballot yet? If yes, congratulations. You're a champ. If not, it's okay; we understand what it's like to play the long game. In fact, voting will be o ... More >>

Supreme Court Turns Down Same Sex Marriage Cases, Puts Spotlight on 5th Circuit

Monday morning word came down from on high, or wherever it is the Supreme Court proclamations come from, that the court would not hear any of several same-sex marriage cases it could have this term. In turning down cases from the 4th, 7th and 10th federal circuit courts, the Supreme Court paved the ... More >>

Voting for the 2014 Dallas Observer Music Awards Is Now Open

Hold onto your butts, Dallas; it's that time of year again. Dallas Observer Music Awards time. DOMA time has moved back to its latest time of year ever, but we couldn't be more excited about it. This year, our annual music awards showcase -- Chevy Music Showcase North Texas Presents the Dallas Obs ... More >>

Former Texas GOP Chair: Homophobia, Not Oil and Low Taxes, Created the Texas Miracle

There are many plausible explanations for the so-called Texas Miracle, the state's decade-plus surge in economic and population growth. Job creators appreciate the low tax burden and light regulation. Workers like the low cost of living and lack of a state income tax. Heretofore unimagined quantitie ... More >>

The Case Against 8 Is the Best Kind of Popular History

Texas' Gay-Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional, a Federal Judge Has Ruled

It'll still be a while before gay couples are allowed to legally allowed to marry in Texas, but they took a big step today when a federal court ruled that the state's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Orlando wrote in an opinion on Wednesday that the constitutional amen ... More >>

Dan Patrick Just Accidentally Endorsed Gay Marriage

In a wholly unexpected and incredibly bizarre turn of events, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Dan Patrick offered an endorsement of gay marriage so enthusiastic that he suggested doing away with heterosexual unions in the process. Patrick, heretofore the most conservative candidate in the ... More >>

In Court, Texas Says It Bans Gay Marriage to "Promote Responsible Procreation"

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia didn't hand down any ruling Wednesday following a hearing on two Texas couples' lawsuit challenging Texas' gay-marriage ban. A decision, on whether to grant the couples' request for a preliminary injunction blocking Texas' constitutional amendment prohibiting same- ... More >>

Gay Marriage Won't Undermine the Texas Constitution; its 483 Amendments Did That

Vic Holmes and Mark Phariss, the gay Plano couple suing to overturn Texas' ban on same-sex marriage, will be in San Antonio on Wednesday trying to convince a federal judge to allow their case to continue. The battle lines are familiar by now. Gay marriage, proponents say, is a constitutionally prot ... More >>

Dallas Pastor Bucks Methodist Church, Says He Will Perform Same-Sex Weddings

The United Methodist Church, much like the state of Texas, does not approve of gay marriage -- or, for that matter, of any divergence from the Adam & Eve model of human sexuality set down in Genesis. The UMC's official rulebook says that "sexual relations are affirmed only with the covenant of mono ... More >>

The VA Is Denying a Gay Dallas Veteran and His Husband Housing Benefits, Because Texas

In September, on the heels of the landmark Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor, which entitled legally married gay and lesbian couples to the same federal perks as their heterosexual counterparts, the Obama administration declared that the opinion encompassed military veteran's benefits. So t ... More >>

Texas National Guard Will Now Give Benefits to Same Sex Couples Under "New Procedure" That May Not Exist

For the past few months, the Texas National Guard and the Department of Defense have been in a public brawl over gay rights. And last week, it appeared that the Defense Department, along with gay couples, emerged as the clear victor. Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia are now complying with the DOD ... More >>

Dallas Makes Strides On LGBT "Equality Index." It's Just Not Clear How.

Update at 1:22 p.m.: John Wright reports that the Human Rights Campaign has lowered Dallas' score from 85 to 81 after realizing the city doesn't have an "equal benefits ordinance." We've included HRC's full explanation for Dallas increased score at the end of the post. Original post Good news every ... More >>

Texas National Guard Still Denying Marriage Benefits to Same-Sex Couples

If a same-sex marriage happens outside of Texas, but no law in Texas was there to recognize it, did the marriage ever even happen? Earlier this year, a state senator asked Attorney General Greg Abbott to weigh in on the question in light of all the same-sex couples employed by municipal government ... More >>

Gay Plano Couple Sues to Overturn Texas' Gay Marriage Ban

On October 3, a few weeks after celebrating their 16th anniversary as a couple, Vic Holmes and Mark Phariss of Plano walked into the Bexar County Clerk's Office to apply for a marriage license. Their request was was denied, as they knew it would be. Same-sex marriage is still banned under the Texas ... More >>

The Six Best "Rivalries" in 25 Years of Dallas Observer Music Awards

This year, we'll celebrate our 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards. Voting is open now, and the ceremony is on November 5 at House of Blues. Over the years, we've seen our fair share of bands appearing on the DOMA nominee list year after year. And, in a few notable cases, they found themselves in the ... More >>

The 2013 Dallas Observer Music Award Showcase Lineup is Here

On Saturday, November 2, 58 local artists will play on 8 stages in Deep Ellum for the 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase. Tickets are $10 or $15 day-of. Representatives of nearly every conceivable genre of music are on the lineup, and we encourage you to sample liberally. There will be plent ... More >>

ExxonMobil Will Offer Long-Denied Benefits to Legally Married Same-Sex Couples in U.S.

It ain't the state of Texas, but same-sex couples just got their legal marriages recognized by an entity that wields more influence at home and abroad than Governor Rick Perry ever will -- that's Irving-based oil giant ExxonMobil. The company, known for its insular, white-bread corporate culture, c ... More >>

Texas Supreme Court to Decide If Gay Dallas Couple Can Divorce

Jeffrey and Henry Buck were married in Massachusetts on September 22, 2006, some two years after the state recognized same-sex unions. They moved to Texas in 2008 and quickly discovered what heterosexual couples have known for ages about the sanctity of matrimony: Sometimes it just doesn't work out. ... More >>

Fort Worth Representative Lon Burnam Files Texas' First Post-DOMA Marriage Equality Bill

Back in February, when the Texas legislature was in session the first time, Representative Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, authored a bill aimed to authorize "a marriage between two persons of the same sex in this state and repealing the statutory prohibition against the recognition of a civil union or si ... More >>

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez Is the Unlikely Star of a Pretty Cool HBO Documentary

The new HBO documentary The Out List was supposed to be a response to California's Proposition 8. But it turned into something bigger, director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders told Vanity Fair, where he's a contributing photographer. What it became is a series of interviews with 16 openly gay, lesbian, b ... More >>

Dallas Activists Celebrate Gay Marriage Rulings

There was going to be a rally last night one way or the other. Local activists had scheduled the Dallas Day of Decision Rally for 7 p.m. of whatever day the Supreme Court issued its ruling on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, and depending on how those decisions went the rally would eit ... More >>

City Council Likely to Pass Gay Marriage Resolution, and Mayor Rawlings Isn't Happy

The Dallas Voice broke the news Tuesday that Councilman Scott Griggs had won the support from a majority of his colleagues for a resolution supporting marriage equality and would be putting the item on the City Council agenda for a vote. "It's timely, and it's relevant," Griggs later told the Morni ... More >>

Attorney General Greg Abbott Rules that Domestic Partner Benefits are Barred by Texas Constitution

Voters didn't mince words in 2005, when they added Article I, Section 32 to the Texas Constitution. "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman," it says. "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical ... More >>

Supreme Court Needs Cake in the Break Room

If you're a human with a computer or maybe just a smartphone or maybe just a head with a brain inside of it, you are likely privy to the Defense of Marriage Act and the Supreme Court hearings this week. Or maybe you changed your profile picture because UGH, SUPREME COURT. It started with this, the ... More >>

As Supreme Court Debates Gay Marriage, Texas Politicians Explain How it Violates God's Law

The attention of the country, or at least that segment of it that's politically aware enough to pay attention, is focused squarely on the U.S. Supreme Court,which this week is debating a pair of potentially momentous cases. Hollingsworth v. Perry, which was argued today, could do away with Californi ... More >>

State Rep. Rafael Anchia Hopes to Repeal Texas' Gay Marriage Ban

In 2005, Texas voters considered adding an amendment to the state constitution declaring that marriage "shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman" and forbidding any formal recognition of same-sex unions ratified elsewhere. The measure, controversial only insomuch as some conservativ ... More >>

State Senator John Carona is Backpedaling Wildly on His Support for Gay Rights

Republican state senator John Carona got himself into a bit of hot water with fellow conservatives last week, after he told Dallas Voice senior editor John Wright that he would support several LGBT rights bills during the upcoming legislative session. Those bills would ban employment discrimination ... More >>

The NFL's Game Changer

Chris Kluwe is prying open America's last closet: major-league sports.

Mike Huckabee Calls for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day

Citing "intolerant bigotry from the left," former Arkansas governor and candidate in the 2008 republican presidential primaries, Mike Huckabee, has called for a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" on August 1. Last week we reported on Chick-fil-A's president Dan Cathy's interview where he condemned sam ... More >>

Chick-fil-A and its President, Dan Cathy, Take to Facebook After Anti-Gay Marriage Comments

Dan Cathy, president and COO of Chick-fil-A, recently was a guest on an Atlanta-area radio talk show, where he denounced gay marriage, again, saying: "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.' ... More >>

Arlington Pastor Hates Gays and Mormons

First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress gets most of the press for his outspoken views on homosexuality and Mormonism, but over at the Dallas Voice, John Wright highlights the, um, retrograde views of another prominent local preacher, Dwight McKissic of Arlington's Cornerstone Baptist Church. McKissic ... More >>

GetEQUAL TX Will Occupy County Records Building Once a Month For Marriage Equality

The bride wore a strapless dress in shades of blue and white. The other bride wore a battered leather jacket, a shiny, pale pink tie and a snug gray beanie. Hendrix Scott and Jennifer McCluskey rode up to the second floor of the Dallas County Records Building on Main Street this morning to ask John ... More >>

Tom Leppert and Jesus Christ -- Why, Why, It's Like Looking at Twins!

Via.C'mon, Tom, show us the part where you walk on water.​Oh, oh, oh -- now I get it. All this time former Mayor Tom Leppert sure seemed to be just a stinking hypocrite, a back-stabbing, forked-tongue phony who turned all anti-gay and old-time religious-y after leaving office and deciding to r ... More >>

Don't Shoot! We Know You're Conservative, Tom.

Carol Reed Dodges Tom Leppert's DOMA Tweet, Predicts Runoff Between Leppert and David Dewhurst and Defends John Wiley Price

Photos by Sam MertenCarol Reed​Political consultant Carol Reed answered questions about the battle for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Dallas mayor's race, the 2012 Republican presidential primary and an assortment of local and state issues last night at a meet ... More >>

Leppert Defends Defense of Marriage Act

Patrick Michels​In the comments below, a Friend of Unfair Park notes that shortly before Mayor Tom Leppert said his farewells to the Dallas City Council, he hopped on his Twitter account to take issue with President Obama's announcement that he believes Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is ... More >>

Lesbian Couple, Turned Away From Justin Chapel, Exchange Vows At Cathedral of Hope

Photos by Andrea GrimesTina Shaft, wearing a feathered headpice, married her partner of nearly a decade, Tiffany Fenimore, in a service at the Interfaith Peace Chapel at the Cathedral of Hope on Friday afternoon.​After they were turned away from a private wedding venue in Justin, north of Fort Wor ... More >>

To The Dallas Morning News, Gay Couple's Marriage Is Still Just a "Commitment"

The Skype wedding witnessed 'round the world​The Skype'd wedding of Mark Reed and Dante Walkup -- held at the Dallas W hotel, officiated over Internet teleconferencing software in Washington, D.C. -- went viral a few weeks after the gay couple was legally married in our nation's capital in October ... More >>

As Judges Heard Arguments For and Against Same-Sex Divorce, the World's Tiniest Protest Took Place Outside

Patrick MichelsMichael Robinson, left, and David Bowling were the sole protesters at today's same-sex divorce hearing downtown.​So much for the media circus outside today's highly anticipated (judging by the advance news coverage, anyway) hearing at the George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building, where t ... More >>

Robert Jeffress Looks to Scandinavia for Reasons to Oppose Gay Marriage

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas Ah, bless you, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Because till GLAAD posted this video on its YouTube channel today, we had no idea that First Baptist Church of Dallas's Robert Jeffress was among temp host Jane Velez-Mitchell's ... More >>

DOMA XX: Best Song Nominees...

With our DOMA ballot online and ripe for your votin', we figured we'd give you some help: a daily breakdown of each category's nominees. Best Song - "Slow Southern Home" by Doug Burr - "Julianne" by The Crash That Took Me - "Parking Lot Nights" by Ghosthustler - "Maths" by Record Hop - "The Sparrow ... More >>

John McCain’s Curious Christian Faith

JohnMcCain.com Two news articles in recent days have shed light on an enigma: John McCain’s Christian faith. Andrea Billups’ story in the Washington Times -- despite its inadvertently funny lede, which appears to have caught multiple people sleeping at the copy desk -- will do nothing to boost ... More >>

Sure, They Name-Drop Jesus. But What in God's Name Do They Know?

Trinity United Church of Christ Barack Obama with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in a now-famous photo taken three years ago There were the “Cocktail Christians”: the Lutherans in my Wisconsin hometown who did their sacred rites on Sunday morning and tipped multiple martinis Sunday night. Pun ... More >>

Religious Right Still Righting Texas Liberals' Many Wrongs

Terri Leo doesn't like the gays. Or maybe she just doesn't get them. Got a little time to kill this morning? Good, because the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has just issued its latest report on the religious right's influence on Texas government, God's Lawgivers? Carrying the Water for the Re ... More >>

An Open Letter to Evangelicals

The election results are a big smack upside the head to American evangelicals--a firm rebuke. Don't explain them away or blame them on gays, the media and godless liberals. Yes, Ted Haggard had something to do with it. Maybe a lot to do with it. Most of all, he exposed our disgusting arrogance. And ... More >>

Licensed to Speak

Run from any political group with "freedom" or "liberty" in its name

Place Called Hope

Prop 2 could fail, if the right people stay home

Right Hand of God

Two Texas leaders of the extreme Religious Right get ready to flex their political muscle

Joe Bob Briggs

Drive-In Movie Critic of Grapevine, TX