Daniel Funez

Government 2306
Prof. Andrew Teas
Discords Apple.
The Representative Garnet Coleman proposed in October 11 of 2014 a bill for the issue
of gay marriage in the state of Texas. The state of Texas in its legislature in the Article 1, Section
2 follows that the state does not recognize any other marriage different from one man and one
woman. The Representative Garnet Coleman has proposed in the bill that this section 32 needs
to be repealed and in this case the state will recognized any other marriage that does not need to
include one man and one woman but the same gender. The state of Texas has been known for its
conservative legislature and population, even though the state has a considerable population of
immigrants the situation does not seem to change and the state still has a conservative view of
society, government and regulation. The state has been seeing an increase the acceptance on gay
relationships; this acceptance is part in the community and some opinion of minority groups but
is the legislature against or in favor? Is the state ready for a new legislation like this?
The new Governor of the state of Texas Greg Abbott in 2009 when a judge in Dallas,
Texas cleared the path for a gay couple and said that the ban of gay marriage in the state violates
the U.S. Constitution; the Texas Attorney General Abbott at the time said that he would
appealed the decision of this judge because that decision was putting in danger the decision of
the people in 2005. In October 29 of 2014 a poll was published in the Texas Tribune and shows
that just the 47% of Register Texans were against the same-sex marriage. The meaning of this
poll done by the University of Texas in Austin and the Texas Tribune shows that the majority of
the voters will still vote against the new bill if it passes. The people in this percentage will be
likely to vote for a Representative or Senator that will go against the permission for same-sex

marriages. Representatives Cecil Bell, Allen Fletcher and Drew Springer filed a bill on January 7
of 2015 that prohibits any state or local government employee to give permission or give licenses
to a same-sex marriage, if this employee does it he or she will not receive a salary, pension or
any beneficial fund at the cost of a state taxpayer; the bill is HB 623. The bill HB 623 has a
clear objective on who wants to target. Is it the judges? No, the bill wants to target the gay
community because if this bill passes the judges will not be able to work or give marriage
licenses to gay people, they will not receive any salary and that will put the judges in a very
uncomfortable situation.
Judge Orlando Garcia on 2014 ruled against the same-sex marriage ban and said that
these types of bills go against the U.S. Constitution. A gay couple went to the judge and filed a
plaintiff challenging the constitution of Texas. In Texas there are couples from other states that
are married but because the state does not recognize their marriage they are nothing to the Texas
state but just two people living in one place. Texas Tech University published a poll in the
website newswise.com and the poll argues that the 48% of the people respondent in favor of
gay marriage against the 47% of the other part say no to same-sex marriages. The poll also
argues about other issues in Texas such as immigration and how the people on the state consider
themselves as the 41% being Republicans and 31% independent. In the city of Fort Worth samesex couples will have to travel to Dallas just to get a license of marriage, in Bexar County are
getting prepared to be open 24-hour if a same-sex couple goes and wants to get a license.
The legislature in Texas as conservative as it is and how the people consider themselves
with the 41% being Republican the change is not going to be very different. The Representatives
and the Senators are not going to vote in favor of this bill; if the 41% of the people are
Republicans is very likely that they are conservatives and they dont agree with same-sex

marriages; the people in higher positions will not vote in favor of the bill just the minority of
Democrats will vote for it. The bill at this time is a bad idea and the polls show why. According
to the University of Texas in Austin and Texas Tribune the 47% of the people are against the
same-sex marriages and just the 42% will vote for it. In the other hand the poll according to
Texas Tech University says that the 48% of the people will favor this bill but the 47% will say no
to it. The bill will bring tension to the state; half of the state is either on one side or the other,
there is no an actual gap between the two, there is no 2/3 or a big percentage of the people
agreeing with the bill. The bill will do better if there is more acceptance of the gay community
from the state and local government. The legislature will not approve this bill because the polls
show that the people are not neither against nor in favor of the same-sex marriage. The gay
community, bills of rights movement and liberal people will vote for the bill if it passes the
legislature and they let the people to decide what to do; but the bill will take time to pass if the
people from the state does not start to think that is not just about one part but the other part too.
Marriage of some people does not mean anything, its just a piece of paper but for other this
paper means the whole world.

-The bill H.B.171 on February 9 was read for the first time by Representative Alvarado and at
2:47p.m. on the same date the bill was referred to the Public Education Committee.
- The bill HJR 8 by Representative Otto has not had any changes.
-Bill SB 267 on January 28 was read for the first time by the Representative Perry and on the
same was referred to the Business & Commerce committee
-Bill HB 827 by the Representative Giddings has not had any changes from the past days.

-Bill SB 185 by the Representative Perry was read for the first time in January 27 and referred to
the of Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Committee and to the Subcommittee on Border
Security

Works Cites
THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 1. BILL OF RIGHTS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10,
2015, from http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CN/htm/CN.1.htm#1.32
Siegel, E. (2009, December 2). Texas Judge Rules Gay-Marriage Ban Violates U.S.
Constitution. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/texas-judge-rules-gay-mar_n_307532.html
Ramsey, R. (2014, October 29). UT/TT Poll: Texas Voters Show Conditional Support for SameSex Unions, by Ross Ramsey. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from
http://www.texastribune.org/2014/10/29/uttt-poll-conditional-support-same-sex-unions/
Blanchard, B. (2015, January 8). Bill Looks to Prevent Gay Marriage From Becoming Legal in
Texas, by Bobby Blanchard. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from
http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/08/no-salaries-for-recognizing-gay-marriage-bill-says/
Reilly, M. (2014, February 26). Texas Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional By Federal
Judge. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/texas-gaymarriage-ban_n_4860669.html
Texas Tech Survey: Abbott to Win Texas Governor, Voter ID Law Didn't Cause Problems and
Texans Split on Gay Marriage. (2014, April 10). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from
http://www.newswise.com/articles/texas-tech-survey-abbott-to-win-texas-governor-voter-id-lawdidn-t-cause-problems-and-texans-split-on-gay-marriage
Wright, J. (2014, December 2). Texas County Clerks Prepare for Same-Sex Marriages.
Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-counties-prepare-forsame-sex-marriages/