Editorial: Same story for same-sex marriage

The political names might change, along with supposedly the will of the public (although in this case to what degree is debatable in Texas), but changing the legal definition of marriage in Texas will not be easy. Nor should it be easy.

Back in 2005, 76 percent of voters in Texas, including 89 percent of Randall County voters and 84.5 percent of Potter County voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as "the union of one man and one woman."

The constitutional amendment was spearheaded by former state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa.

While opponents of the constitutional amendment have pushed their legal battle to U.S. District Court in San Antonio (related arguments were heard Wednesday), one of the three Republican candidates for Texas attorney general is optimistic this state right can survive.

"I think so," former GOP legislator Dan Branch, one of three candidates in the GOP primary, told AGN Media about his take on the legal fate of the amendment. "There is a case dealing with the federal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) law, but as a co-author of this constitutional amendment, I think the state of Texas ought to get to decide the issue."

"I think there are two or three different areas where this issue is going to be played out," Branch said. "For me, the attorney general ought to uphold the laws of the state of Texas, and the state of Texas ought to be able to define those issues like other states have been able to."

It remains to be seen how stringently the federal government will address the issue of same-sex marriage from a legal/enforcement perspective. And recent history has shown the current administration is adept at picking and choosing the laws it enforces, or at least how enthusiastically it enforces certain laws.

Is same-sex marriage a major issue for the next Texas attorney general? Probably not.

However, until this part of the Texas Constitution is superseded by the current administration's social agenda (if that happens), the law is the law.