Last week was a crazy time in Texas for proponents of same sex marriage. Here’s a timeline of the events that occurred last week:
- On Tuesday morning, a probate judge in Travis County declared the Texas definition of marriage unconstitutional in a private probate proceeding.
- On Tuesday night, the Texas Attorney General intervened in the probate suit and filed an emergency mandamus in the Texas Supreme Court, requesting to stay the proceeding and overturn that ruling. Read Texas Attorney General’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus here; Texas Attorney General’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Relief here; Prasavath’s Response to Emergency Motion for Temporary Relief here.
- On Thursday morning, a Travis County state district court judge declared the Texas definition of marriage unconstitutional and issued a temporary restraining order directing the Travis County clerk to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.
- Pursuant to this judge’s order, the Travis County Clerk issued a marriage license to the same-sex couple, who subsequently took part in a ceremony Thursday morning.
- On Thursday, the Texas Attorney General intervened in the marriage license suit and filed an emergency mandamus in the Texas Supreme Court, requesting to stay the proceeding and overturn that ruling. Read Texas Attorney General’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus here; Texas Attorney General’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Relief here.
- On Thursday afternoon, the Texas Supreme Court granted the stay requested in both suits. Read Texas Supreme Court’s Order Granting Stay (Prasavath case) here; and Texas Supreme Court’s Order Granting Stay (Goodfriend/Bryant case) here.
So, as of now, two ladies in a same sex got legally married in Travis County. The LGBT advocates rejoiced. AG Paxton filed to invalidate their marriage. The Texas Supreme Court pushed the pause button and said WHOA wait a minute here… let’s sort this out. And, everyone remains in limbo. STAY TUNED!
