Pressured by Republican leaders, the
Texas Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case involving
benefits being offered by the city of Houston to married gay and
lesbian couples.
The high court in September refused to
hear the case, prompting a backlash from Republicans.
Texas Values, an Austin-based group
opposed to LGBT rights, filed the case.
“[T]he current [US] Supreme Court
will continue to use its power to advance the ideology of the sexual
revolution until there is a change of membership,” the group said
in its motion to rehear, adding that several federal court rulings
threaten “the religious freedom of those who oppose homosexual
behavior.”
Texas' top Republican leaders –
Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney
General Ken Paxton – said in a separate filing that the case
provides an opportunity to undermine Obergefell v. Hodges, the
2015 landmark Supreme Court ruling that stuck down state laws and
constitutional amendments that limit marriage to heterosexual
couples.
In a separate filing, another 70
Republican politicians and Christian pastors called on the high court
to stand up to “federal tyranny.”
According to the Austin-American
Statesman, it takes four out of the high court's nine
justices, all of whom are Republican, to grant a motion to rehear a
case.
While Houston began offering the
benefits before the US Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell, city
attorneys argue that its policy is protected by the ruling.
Chuck Smith of Equality Texas, the
state's largest LGBT rights advocate, called the suit “a waste of
taxpayer dollars.”