Attorney General Greg Abbott says Texas’ same-sex marriage ban should remain in place because legalizing it would do little or nothing to encourage heterosexual couples to get married and have children.
Writing in a brief filed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Abbott said the state was not obligated to prove why gay marriage might be detrimental to the economic or social well-being of Texans. It was only required to show how opposite-sex marriage would be more beneficial for its citizens.
“The State is not required to show that recognizing same-sex marriage will undermine heterosexual marriage,” the brief read. “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriages will.”
The new filing largely reiterated the same “responsible procreation” argument Abbott made in July, when the state first appealed a February district court’s ruling overturning the Texas gay marriage ban. In it, Abbott argued marriage among heterosexual partners is more beneficial to society because it encourages married couples to have children and provides an example for other couples to do the same.
See here, here, and here for the background. Texas Politics has a copy of Abbott’s brief here if you want a laugh. I guess when you really, truly have nothing to say, you say the same things you’ve already said and hope they sound better on repeat. As one of the commenters on the Chron story says, I’d love to see Abbott make these arguments to Judge Richard Posner. I know the Fifth Circuit sucks, but can they possibly be so intellectually and morally bankrupt to find merit in this idiocy? The case is on track to be hear in November or December, byt the same panel that will hear the Louisiana case appeal. Hopefully we’ll know something by the end of the year.