AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Conservative activists are seeking an injunction blocking Houston from paying same-sex spousal benefits to its municipal employees, after Texas’ Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex couples may not be entitled to them.
Attorneys filed a motion July 7 in District Court in Harris County, which includes Houston.
They also want to recover public funds that America’s fourth-largest city spent on same-sex spousal benefits since November 2013, though how much such “clawbacks” would be worth is unclear.
Last week, the all-Republican state Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s decision favoring same-sex marriage benefits and ordered the issue back to trial.
Opponents hope the case will chip away at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, arguing that that decision doesn’t mean same-sex couples have inherent rights to spousal benefits.
