Texas Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Ruled Unconstitutional

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Late yesterday, Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled Texas' ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, "as part of an estate fight in which Austin resident Sonemaly Phrasavath sought to have her eight-year relationship to Stella Powell deemed to have been a common-law marriage. Powell died last summer of colon cancer."

This is big news, not only for Phrasavath, who has won the right to have her relationship recognized as a marriage, but also potentially for all same-sex couples in Texas, especially because it was not issued with the familiar stay to give the state time to appeal—but marriage licenses are not yet being issued.

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, who praised Herman for his ruling, said she will confer with county lawyers to determine her options.

"I am scrambling, trying to find out if there is anything I can do. Right now, I think it's no, but we are checking," said DeBeauvoir, who in the past has said that she was ready to begin distributing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as soon as allowed by the courts.

So, now we await further updates, once DeBeauvoir has a better understanding of what her options are, since this case was atypical in the sense that it was about estate law rather than a more direct challenge to the constitutionality of the ban. Fingers crossed!