First Same-Sex Couple to Marry In Texas
Today, a Travis County district judge ordered the county clerk to stop relying upon unconstitutional Texas laws to refuse a marriage license to a lesbian couple. Just fifteen minutes later, Austin women Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant obtained their marriage license and became legally married. “It’s the first same-sex couple married in the history of Texas. They have been waiting 30 years to get married . . . It’s a big deal—a big deal for the family. Great day,” said their attorney Chuck Herring.
The two women sued Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, who refused to issue them a marriage license based on concerns about the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. DeBeauvoir said she would not issue the license unless a court ordered her to do so. Goodfriend and Bryant asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop DeBeauvoir from refusing to issue their license.
126th District Judge Davis Wahlberg ordered DeBeauvoir “to cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibition against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license to plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant.”
See Angela Morris, First Same-Sex Couple Legally Marries in Texas, Texas Lawyer, Feb. 19, 2015.