A Galveston man has filed a lawsuit to overturn Texas’ marriage amendment. The Houston Chronicle reports:
Domenico Nuckols, 60, said he believes that he will prevail because of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which included the same definition of marriage.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle, but I fired the first shot,” Nuckols said.
The same-sex rights group Equality Texas was unaware of any similar lawsuits since the court decision, said Chuck Smith, executive director. A section of the state Constitution’s Bill of Rights reads, “Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and woman.”
Nuckols, a retired nuclear engineer, is representing himself and has asked the court to waive his filing fees. He says he was inspired to file the lawsuit after the DOMA ruling because of the deportation of his partner in 1986.
While we’ll undoubtedly see more lawsuits like Nuckols’ challenging the marriage amendment in the wake of the DOMA ruling, LGBT advocates generally discourage them unless there’s a clear legal strategy because they can do more harm than good by creating negative legal precedent.
