Sixty-three Texas legislators have
filed an amicus brief calling on a federal appeals court to
uphold Texas' ban on gay marriage.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia
struck down Texas' ban in February, saying it demeans the dignity of
gay couples for no legitimate reason. The state appealed the case to
the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which has yet to
schedule oral arguments.
The Legislature's Texas Conservative
Coalition (TCC) filed its friend-of-the-court brief on Monday,
arguing that allowing gay couples to marry may open the door to other
unions, including plural marriages and incest.
“Another ground cited by supporters
of Texas's marriage laws and subsequently dismissed by the district
court is that recognition of same-sex marriage 'could lead to the
recognition of bigamy, incest, pedophilia and group marriage,'” the
document states. “As already discussed in this brief,
restrictions on marriage relating to these moral considerations
remain valid. Thus, the goal of actively trying to prevent those
practices from becoming valid is entirely rational public policy.”
(Related: Texas'
gay marriage ban is not discriminatory; it treats all couples the
same, AG argues.)