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Greg Abbott: Banning Gay Marriage Reduces Out-Of-Wedlock Births

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The Texas Republican nominee for governor says that his state’s ban on same-sex marriage reduces out-of-wedlock births among heterosexuals.

In a brief filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Attorney General Greg Abbott claims that the State of Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage reduces out-of-wedlock births, and legalizing same-sex marriage would make different-sex couples less interested in marrying and having children.

Texas’s same-sex marriage laws “are rationally related to the State’s interest in reducing unplanned out-of-wedlock births,” Abbott, who is running for governor against Wendy Davis, claims in the brief, which was filed on Friday.

LOOK: Wendy Davis Slams Greg Abbott On Social Issues In Texas Debate (Video)

Abbott makes a false cost-benefit analysis, wholly ignoring the actual civil rights issues that are central to legal arguments supporting marriage equality.

“Texas’s marriage laws are rationally related to the State’s interest in encouraging couples to produce new offspring, which are needed to ensure economic growth and the survival of the human race.”

“By channeling procreative heterosexual intercourse into marriage,” Abbott adds, “Texas’s marriage laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the costs that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.”

Of course, many same-sex couples adopt the very children created by the “unplanned out-of-wedlock births” of different-gender coupling, and those families deserve the same rights and protections different-sex couples are automatically granted.

“There is no ‘fundamental right’ to same-sex marriage,” Abbott claims. He also states “Texas’s marriage laws do not expressly classify based on sexual orientation,” meaning that he says they are constitutional because they don’t specifically apply only to gay and bisexual people.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Abbott “denied that other courts’ decisions to overturn gay marriage bans represented salient precedent, saying these rulings simply represented the “purely subjective” beliefs of a few judges.” 

Same-sex marriage has won over 40 decisions in courts since the supreme Court overturned DOMA in 2013.

 

Image via Flickr

 

Related At The New Civil Rights Movement:

Texas Same-Sex Marriage Ban Denies Mom Of Three Driver’s License – And Right To Vote

AT&T Donates $75,000 To Help Elect Anti-Gay Republican Greg Abbott Governor Of Texas

Sarah Palin Endorses Abbott: ‘Good Enough For Ted Nugent, Good Enough For Me!’

Texas Appeals Ruling Striking Down Same-Sex Marriage Ban — For The Children

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Suspect Arrested in J6 DNC and RNC Pipe Bomb Case: Report

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Nearly five years after pipe bombs were discovered near the offices of the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the Republican National Committee headquarters on the night before the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with the case.

“The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is the violent Capitol siege,” according to the Associated Press. “The arrest took place Thursday morning, and the suspect is a man.”

The AP notes that the FBI has received hundreds of tips and reviewed tens of thousands of video files.

Citing sources, MSNOW’s Carol Leonnig reports that the “suspect was identified in a fresh review of old evidence and could have possibly been arrested years ago.”

Developing…

 READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret

 

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Ghislaine Maxwell to Request to Be Freed From Prison

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted child sex offender and associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has filed court documents seeking to be released from prison, reportedly “throwing a wrench” into the Justice Department’s efforts to release “scores” of files released to her case.

“Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Epstein counterpart, wrote in a letter filed Wednesday in federal court that she plans to soon file a court petition challenging her detention, a long-shot bid that, if successful, could result in a new trial,” The Hill reported.

Maxwell’s attorneys “said Maxwell does not take a position on the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts,” but, “to do so could imperil a retrial if her challenge, called a habeas petition, prevails.”

The New York Times added, “Although the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, previously denied a request by the Justice Department to release those documents, Ms. Bondi made her latest motion under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed by Mr. Trump last month.”

According to CNN, “lawyers for Epstein’s estate told the judge they do not take a position as to the unsealing of records given the government’s ‘commitment’ to redacting victim and personally identifying information.”

READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Public domain

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Johnson Slammed After Timeline to Swear In Newest GOP Member Revealed

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is coming under fire after a report revealed he expects to swear in this week the newest Republican elected to Congress, Matt Van Epps, for whom Johnson campaigned. Van Epps won a narrow victory Tuesday night in a deep red Tennessee district. The move comes after Johnson most recently delayed seating Democratic U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona for 50 days.

Johnson offered an array of explanations for why he would not swear in Congresswoman Grijalva, who won her September election for a seat vacant since March but was not seated until November.

Among his reasons were that the House was not in session, there was a federal government shutdown, and her election had to be officially certified. Critics noted that other members-elect had been sworn in under similar circumstances.

READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret

In October, The Guardian reported that Grijalva “thinks she knows the reason why Johnson is in no rush to administer the oath: in addition to co-sponsoring bills on the environment, public education and other issues she campaigned on addressing, Grijalva plans to provide the final signature on a petition that would force a vote on legislation to release files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein – which the speaker and Donald Trump oppose.”

Now, critics are blasting Johnson, after Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman reported on the Speaker’s expected timeline.

READ MORE: Trump Overrules Johnson in Dramatic GOP Showdown

“I was led to believe that waiting almost two months was customary and totally normal,” snarked Robbie Sherwood, communications director of the Arizona House Democratic Caucus.

“Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the last member had to wait 50 days,” observed political commentator Molly Jong-Fast.

“Oh so he can just swear anyone in immediately if he feels like it,” noted Hemant Mehta, who writes the Friendly Atheist on Substack.

“Guess the speed of democracy depends on who you voted for and what they look like,” charged Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko.

READ MORE: Amid Johnson’s ‘Exodus Problem’ One House Republican Declares ‘Fresh Blood Is Good’

 

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