"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."—The Texas State Constitution. According to Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, the 22-word clause, found in the 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban same-sex marriages, "effectively 'eliminates marriage in Texas,' including common-law marriages. ... 'Whoever vetted the language in B must have been asleep at the wheel,' she said."
Obviously, the clause was included to prevent the creation of civil unions or domestic partnerships or some other marriage proxy for same-sex couples, but because the clause doesn't actually specify same-sex couples, it appears as though Texas rendered itself out of the marriage business altogether. Oops!
(Almost certainly nothing will come of this, until some MRA tries to get out of alimony payments on the argument that his marriage was never legal anyway lolsob.)
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