Anti-gay marriage language that died in the House has new life in the Senate

With little fanfare, anti-gay marriage language was added in Senate Intergovernmental Relations and voted out

After a bill that would have barred state and local governments from using public funds to issue same-sex marriage licenses died in the Texas House, very similar language was rolled out in a Senate committee Monday. But, the language was slipped into a benign sounding bill and so far has caught the attention of very few people.

Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, laid out the omnibus county bill by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, in Senate Intergovernmental Relations. In Lucio’s committee substitute for House Bill 2977, the same anti-gay marriage language pushed unsuccessfully by Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, was inserted. Bell’s bill died because it wasn’t debated on the House floor prior to a key deadline.

By Scott Braddock