Posted on 01/13/2015 8:11:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A bill has been introduced in the Texas Legislature that if enacted would strip the salary of any Texas-government employee who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple.
Known as House Bill 623, the recently introduced bill declares that no state funds will go to the distribution of gay marriage licenses.
"State or local taxpayer funds or governmental salaries may not be used for an activity that includes the licensing or support of same-sex marriage," reads HB 623.
"If an employee violates this subsection, the employee may not continue to receive a salary, pension, or other employee benefit at the expense of the taxpayers of this State."
Also called the "Texas Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act," HB 623 was filed last week by Republican State Representative Cecil Bell of Magnolia.
In a statement regarding the proposed legislation, Rep. Bell said that HB 623 was part of his obligation to represent the interests of the people who elected him.
"When I was elected, I made a promise to my constituents to fight to protect our traditional values and to stand strong in the defense of our constitutional rights as Texans and Americans," stated Bell.
"We as Texans voted in 2005 to define marriage as being solely between a man and a woman. In Texas marriage is sacred and traditional families are recognized as the fabric of our society."
In 2005, Texas voters approved Proposition 2, which added an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as being only between one man and one woman.
Debate over HB 623 comes as a legal challenge to the Lone Star State's marriage amendment makes it way to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last February, a federal judge struck down an amendment to Texas' state constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.
San Antonio Judge Orlando L. Garcia of United States District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled that the amendment violated the U.S. Constitution.
"While significant, Judge Garcia's ruling will have no immediate effect on gay and lesbian couples wishing to marry in Texas," reported the New York Times back in Feb. 2014.
"The judge issued a stay on his decision while the state appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans."
Texas filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit, which is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the appeal on Friday.
Regarding HB 623, the LGBT group Equality Texas has denounced the proposed legislation and has called on activists to contact Bell and express their opposition to his bill.
"HB 623 punishes state employees who would follow the law by issuing marriage licenses to loving couples. The bill would also attempt to exempt the State of Texas from constitutional requirements," reads an "Action Alert" from the group.
"Tell Cecil Bell that Texas and Texans respect the constitution, respect the rule of law and respect the right of loving couples to make their own decisions absent unnecessary government intervention."
The Bill, if passed, will be overruled by the courts.
It has happened before, it will happen again.
They should pass a similar law regarding the salaries and benefits of judges.
The Bill, if passed, will be overruled by the courts.
It has happened before, it will happen again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It will.
And as happy as I am with the election of Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton as our new A/G; I don’t believe either of them will deny the courts when (not if) they overturn our queer marriage ban.
Sad. But we have gutless cowards in our capitals.
I’ll bet this really gets into the craw of Mayor Porker of Houston. The fat lezbo ran off to Kalipornia and married her lesbian partner.
Ping
That is the single most terrifying thing you can do to an apparatchik: threaten their quiet reitrment to their dacha by the lake.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the homosexual agenda ping list.
Be sure to click the FreeRepublic homosexual agenda keyword search link for a list of all related articles. We don't ping you to all related articles so be sure to click the previous link to see the latest articles.
Add keywords homosexual agenda to flag FR articles to this ping list.
How about restitution of benefits, bonuses, &c.?
It’s DOA.
So where exactly is it in the Texas state codes that Sodomite marriage is legal ?
Can they cite those lines....or is it the words of some leftard judge the are citing? The latter, I suspect.
Is there one legislature and governor out of 50 that is willing to do what Virginia and Kentucky did in response to the Federal Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798? The answer is likely not. There will be a lot of bluster from conservative politicians, as they bravely retreat from the most recently firmly held position to defend another Maginot Line, say, legalizing polygamy or pederasty, on which they will stand firm and pass legislation or amendments to their state constitutions. The Federal courts will in due course overturn these laws and amendments. Some of the culprits will be appointees from the Bush presidencies or a possible GOP-e president elected in 2016.
When legitimized sodomy, i.e. "gay marriage", becomes the law of the land, as surely as abortion on demand is, conservative pastors must not participate in this farce. Church officers of Bible-believing churches must not sign a marriage license. If heterosexual couples want state sanction, let them go before a judge. This would be like the situation in Communist or socialist, secular countries.
Exactly.....any judge that actively promotes Vice and evil, unnatural, vile behaviors in our “Justice” System which is based on “the Laws of Nature and nature’s God” and not on any pagan, Satanic religions which worship Ba’al (the Rite of Sodomy) should be disgraced in public. (Good time for Tar and Feathering to come back into vogue;sarc (but not really, since their actions warp the minds and “thinking” of children).
They should be impeached, at least—for undermining “Rule of Law (Higher Law (God’s and our Constitution’s First Principles), and creating man-made irrational laws (Null and Void) and promoting rrational, evil law—irrational Positive Law)-—they SHOULD lose their pension, their license ....for undermining Truth/God and Justice (the Queen of Virtue) by promoting irrational and evil Vice in our so-called “Justice” system.
As Justice John Marshall knew-—and the reiterated at Nuremberg-—when Law ceases to be Just (virtuous), it ceases to be Law. It is what Marshall said makes Law “Null and Void”-—and every judge has the DUTY to declare unjust law Null and Void.
Imagine in June that five of the justices find some magical right to gay marriage in the Constitution. I don’t know how we’d overturn this, even if we somehow reclaimed the court’s direction.
I’m betting that our only path back away from this is a constitutional amendment. But that would take a huge culture change. The younger generation has largely been successfully indoctrinated on this issue.
Religious liberty laws are going to have to be our next line to defend. But we can’t afford to lose any more ground in federal judgeships, and we have to start repairing the deep damage Obama has done over the past six years. I hope the Senate doesn’t approve another single Obama appointee.
Impeachment means nothing. Bill Clinton was impeached, and he’s richer than ever, and is within a few steps of returning to his old office.
Alcee Hastings was impeached, and he’s still on the government payroll.
You can’t shame the shameless. You can only damage them financially.
I smell “tyranny” in the air...if big brother will not respect the rights of states to govern themselves on matters not specifically addressed in the Constitution.
Where does the Constitution allow queers to have more rights and standing than either you or I? Where is marriage specifically defined in the Constitution to be anything other than between a man and a woman. We are being oppressed by a federal government, a rogue judicial system, and a minority of special interests. This is tyranny.
Texas is an island of sanity in an ocean of nuts.
Any court decision re: Texas sovereignty in this matter should be nullified. The new governor should simply announce that Texas will not adhere to a Federal court decision on marriage as this falls under the purview of state’s rights.
There is an explicit clause in the Federal Constitution that strictly prohibits reducing Federal judges salaries. For good or ill in this case, this was to prevent Congress from punishing judges in the way you suggest.
In an oblique way, I was suggesting impeachment. Presumably that is constitutional. If there is no system in place to prevent judicial tyranny, it will surely come, eventually.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.