Same-sex divorce filed in Bexar County





PHOTO: Gay couples from left, Cleopatra De Leon, Nicole Dimetman, Mark Phariss and Victor Holmes, react at a press conference after U.S. Federal Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction after they sued the state of Texas couples to strike down the gay marriage ban, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014. A San Antonio federal judge ruled Wednesday that Texas' ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and issued a stay until the case is decided by an appeals court. Here are seven things you need to know about gay marriage in Texas.PHOTO: Gay couples from left, Cleopatra De Leon, Nicole Dimetman, Mark Phariss and Victor Holmes, react at a press conference after U.S. Federal Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction after they sued the state of Texas couples to strike down the gay marriage ban, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014. less A San Antonio federal judge ruled Wednesday that Texas' ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and issued a stay until the case is decided by an appeals court. Here are seven things you need to know about ... more Photo: Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Same-sex divorce filed in Bexar County 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — As Texas' ban on gay marriage is being reviewed by state and federal courts, a lesbian couple filed what is likely the first same-sex divorce in Bexar County last month.

As the Express-News' Patrick Danner reported, the case involves two women, Allison Leona Flood Lesh and Kristi Lyn Lesh, who were married in 2010 in Washington and have a child. Although state law does not allow gay marriage or divorce, there are two different cases challenging the laws are making their way through courts.

Donna McKinney, the Bexar County District Clerk, said she is not aware of any other same-sex divorce filing.

The Bexar divorce case was filed eight days before Federal District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Garcia stayed his ruling, which means it does not go into effect until the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fifth Circuit rules.

Another case challenging the state's refusal to process same-sex divorce was heard in November by the state's Supreme Court but has yet to be ruled upon.

“Their divorce has the makings of being a messy split because a child, identified only as K.A.F.L., was born during the marriage in San Antonio. Flood wants to share custody of the nearly 13-month-old girl, but Lesh claims in a court filing that Flood isn't the child's biological or adoptive parent,” Danner writes.

“This illustrates what Judge Garcia identified as (what) same-sex couples are deprived of,” Neel Lane, one of the San Antonio lawyers for the gay couples who sued the state over the same-sex marriage ban, told Danner. “First, they are deprived of the benefits of an orderly dissolution of a marriage. Second, their children are denied the benefit of the many laws to protect their interests in the event of a divorce.”

State officials, including Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is the Republican nominee for governor, have said Texas law prohibits recognizing same-sex marriages, which bars the state from processing divorces.

In 2005, 76 percent of Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Read Danner's story in Monday's Express-News print edition or here on ExpressNews.com.

kparker@express-news.net

Twitter: @KoltenParker