Update On Texas Senate Bill 723

I received this alert message yesterday morning and posted this action alert on the blog because the Reich Wing, Lone Star State Division tried to pull a fast one and slide Senate Bill 723 through the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence.

HB 3666 in the 2009 session clarified the list of acceptable identity documents that could be presented for use to obtain a marriage license.   One of those documents was a court ordered name and gender change.

This bill was penned in response to the ongoing Nikki Araguz case and the coverage its getting in the Houston area and in the blogosphere in which our trans sister is being sued for her widow's benefits by her late husband Thomas Araguz III's ex-wife Heather Delgado and his mother Simona Longoria.

The bill proposed by Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) seeks to remove a court ordered change of gender from the lengthy list of approved identifying documents a person in the Lone Star State can present to obtain a marriage license.

S.B. 723 amends Section 2.005(b), Family Code, by removing "or sex change" in reference to documents acceptable in proving an applicant's identity for obtaining a marriage license.

As proposed, S.B. 723 amends current law relating to the proof of an applicant's identity and age required for the issuance of a marriage license.


You can use a school ID or prison ID card to obtain a marriage license in Texas, but if Tommy Williams gets his way,  no more presenting those court orders of legal gender change.     We God fearing Texas loving Tea Klux Klan members can't have you transsexuals getting married in the Great State of Texas.  It'll make it harder for us to keep oppressing them homosexuals (sarcasm meter on maximum)

The update is that according to Cristan, we had five people show up to testify against this bill and no one testified in favor of it.   You can watch the March 22 hearing testimony starting at the 1:13:08 mark.  The phone lines to all the senators on that committee were lit up by our supporters.. 

SB 723 is still showing ' left pending in committee' status, but we will still have to keep an eye on it because the Texas legislative session runs until May 30.


Cristan also says thanks to everyone who called (and are still calling) the senators who make up the committee, came to the hearing on short notice and got the word out about SB 723 with literally no warning.

You're welcome.

Thanks to you Cristan for making that last minute drive to Austin to testify.