GOP State Lawmakers Sign Brief Opposing Same-Sex Benefits

Fifty Republican members of the Texas Legislature have signed a court brief arguing that the same-sex spouses of government employees shouldn’t be entitled to health insurance and other benefits.

The “friend-of-the-court” brief was submitted Friday in a lawsuit brought by anti-LGBT activists against the city of Houston in response to then-Mayor Annise Parker’s decision to extend benefits to the same-sex spouses of city employees in 2013.

Last month, the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Pidgeon v. Parker, with only Justice John Devine dissenting. But Jonathan Saenz, president of the anti-LGBT group Texas Values, and former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill have petitioned the nine-member court for a rehearing.

The lawmakers who signed the brief were joined by Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton, four GOP candidates for the Legislature, numerous anti-LGBT activists and the Texas Pastor Council, which represents many of the state’s largest churches.

Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/lawmakers-sign-same-sex-benefits-brief/