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 gay couples may not be entitled to them.
Attorneys filed a motion Friday 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.
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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 gay marriage, arguing that that decision doesn’t mean gay couples have inherent rights to spousal benefits.
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