A Texas judge has refused Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott's attempt to intervene in a gay divorce
case, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Abbott filed a motion to block the
divorce of Sabina Daly, 41, of San Antonio, and Angelique Naylor, 39,
of Austin, on February 10, a day after Travis County District Judge
Scott Jenkins had granted the couple a divorce.
The women married in Massachusetts in
2004.
At the time, Abbott said he was
concerned that the divorce would force the state to recognize the
existence of gay marriage.
“A divorce is an ending or a
termination of a valid legal marriage,” Abbott said. “In this
instance there was no valid legal marriage recognized by the state of
Texas. Texas can't have a faulty precedent on the books that
validates an illegal law.”
In rejecting Abbott's request, Jenkins
said that while both parties had yet to sign off on the final degree,
oral judgments are final in Travis County family court. Therefore,
Abbott could not intervene in the case.
The attorney general has appealed the
divorce of two men also married in Massachusetts.
In granting the couple – known only
as J.B. and H.B. – a divorce, Texas District Judge Tena Callahan
said the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.
A panel of the Texas 5th
District Court of Appeals in Dallas is expected to hear arguments in
the case on April 21.
Daly and Naylor said they needed to
divorce to divide a home restoration and renovation business they
built together, as well as to establish parental rights for a
four-year-old adopted son.