Texas Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday
vowed to fight a federal ruling striking down the state's ban on gay
marriage.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge
Orland Garcia – which he stayed pending an appeal – is the sixth
federal decision in a row to knock down all or part of a
voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as a
heterosexual union.
(Related: Texas'
gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional.)
“Texans spoke loud and clear by
overwhelmingly voting to define marriage as a union between a man and
a woman in our Constitution, and it is not the role of the federal
government to overturn the will of our citizens,” Perry said in a
statement. “The 10th Amendment guarantees Texas voters the freedom
to make these decisions, and this is yet another attempt to achieve
via the courts what couldn't be achieved at the ballot box. We will
continue to fight for the rights of Texans to self-determine the laws
of our state.”