Texas Judge Uses 'Morality Clause' to Divide Lesbian Couple, Gives Woman's Partner 30 Days to Move Out

A Texas judge is forcing a lesbian couple apart because he disagrees with their "lifestyle".

The Dallas Voice reports:

Judge John Roach Jr., a Republican who presides over the 296th District Court, enforced the “morality clause” in Compton’s divorce papers on Tuesday, May 7. Under the clause, someone who has a “dating or intimate relationship” with the person or is not related “by blood or marriage” is not allowed after 9 p.m. when the children are present. Price was given 30 days to move out of the home because the children live with the couple.

Price posted about the judge’s ruling on Facebook last week, writing that the judge placed the clause in the divorce papers because he didn’t like Compton’s “lifestyle.”

“Our children are all happy and well adjusted. By his enforcement, being that we cannot marry in this state, I have been ordered to move out of my home,” Price wrote.

Price also mentions that Compton’s ex-husband rarely sees their two children and was once charged with stalking Compton. She said he also hired a private investigator in order to bring the case before the judge. Court records show the ex-husband, Joshua Compton, was charged with third-degree felony stalking in 2011 but pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing.

More at The Voice...

Think Progress adds: "Compton can appeal Price’s decision, but her appeal will be heard by the notoriously conservative Texas court system. Ultimately, the question of whether Compton’s relationship with Price is entitled to the same dignity accorded to any other loving couple could rest with the United States Supreme Court."

Texas House Passes Amendment Allowing Student Clubs at Universities to Discriminate Against Gays

The Texas House yesterday passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Matt Krause prohibiting universities from mandating that officially recognized student organizations adhere to the school's non-discrimination policies, Equality Texas reports:

If enacted, the amendment would allow officially-recognized student organizations who receive taxpayer funded support from a university to discriminate against a potential member based on race, religion, veteran status, HIV/AIDS status, gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression if any attribute of the student "demonstrates opposition to the organization's stated beliefs and purposes."

Equality Texas is appreciative of the bipartisan support of allies in opposition to the amendment - which included 13 Republicans.

The Krause amendment was one of 15 amendments added by the House to Senate Bill 215. It is likely that a conference committee will be needed to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of SB 215. Equality Texas will be actively engaged throughout that process working to strip the Krause amendment from the bill's final version.

You can read the amendment HERE.

Related...
Texas A&M Student Body President Vetoes Bill Allowing Religion-Based Discrimination Against Campus LGBT Center [tlrd]

Failed Anti-Gay Dallas Candidate Distributes Hateful Anti-Gay Flier at City Council Meeting

Remember the hateful voicemail I posted yesterday from failed Dallas City Council candidate Richard P. Sheridan? Last night, Sheridan was at the Dallas City Council meeting passing out the flier seen above.

Writes Dallas Morning News reporter Rudolph Bush:

During the meeting, Sheridan began passing out fliers. He dropped one in my office. He gave a few to people in the audience. And then he put one in the hand of former Dallas City Council member Craig Holcomb.

...It was a distortion of a recent Dallas Voice front page showing the faces of three openly gay council candidates, Vernon Franko, Leland Burk and Herschel Weisfeld. Sheridan had X’d through each of their faces and scrawled 6s on their foreheads.

“God’s voice was heard in Dallas Saturday. No openly gay LGBT City Councilmember!!” he wrote, in reference to the fact that all three lost their races. (Franko and Weisfeld ran against Adam Medrano in District 2)

Sheridan failed to write that his own bid for council came up a little short too. In fact, he managed to get 28 votes in District 13. That’s 28 votes out of 10,350 votes cast in the district. Burk lost to Jennifer Staubach Gates, but he got 3,584 votes for his effort. Or, to put it another way, Burk got 128 times the votes that Sheridan did.

Sheridan's actions reportedly drew outrage at the meeting, and the Council may now be reconsidering its open microphone rules and reviewing its guidelines regarding abusive speakers.

In the profanity-laced voicemail I posted yesterday, Sheridan had scolded a reporter at D magazine for failing to report that his opponent was gay.

Texas A&M Student and Olympic Swimmer: I'm Gay

Tongan Olympian, former Texas A&M swim captain, and 2012 Big 12 breaststroke champion Amini Fonua has decided to speak publicly about his sexuality and defend his school from accusations of homophobia in an article in Texas A&M's student paper The Batt:

Fonua, a senior telecommunications and media studies major, said many assume maintaining his identity as an Aggie athlete and a gay man would be difficult and controversial. Yet the Olympian said his story has been a “fairy tale” in terms of what others have experienced and not the trial and battle many perceive it would be.

Fonua said problems tend to arise when one must hide his or her true identity. The Aggie honor code, he said, is not compatible with dishonesty about one’s nature. “An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal,” Fonua said. “And if you’re living in the closet, you’re living a lie.”

From his personal experiences, he has felt the need to defend the school against accusations of homophobia. Fonua’s openness about his status as perhaps the only openly gay male athlete at A&M comes amid a tumultuous time for the LGBT community, both locally and nationally.

Texas A&M has been in the news over a student bill that would have allowed religion-based discrimination against the campus LGBT center. We wrote about it here.

The Batt continues:

In light of A&M’s perception as an LGBT-unfriendly campus, Fonua said others will ask him how he functions in what appears to be a hostile environment. But he said these perceptions of Texas A&M as an unfriendly campus are directly contradictory to the positive experiences he has had as a student.

“I think I feel inspired to defend Texas A&M and my experience, especially with the Student Senate [bill],” Fonua said. “I’m kind of sick of having to try to defend my school to other people, because I think it’s a very small minority. Homophobia is at every university, it’s not just A&M. It’s everywhere. It might be a little more prevalent here, but I do think that people will sensationalize how something really is.”

Rick Perry: Boy Scouts Must Not Allow Gays, 'The Flavor of the Month', to Destroy Them — VIDEO

The Family Research council yesterday held a webcast yesterday called 'Stand with Scouts Sunday' on which Texas Governor Rick Perry appeared, warning viewers that the "pop culture" of homosexuality threatened to "tear apart" the Boy Scouts' value system, Right Wing Watch reports.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Five Gay Activists Arrested at Texas Capitol at Sit-In Against Four GOP Senators: VIDEO

Five gay activists from the group GetEQUAL Texas were arrested on Wednesday after refusing to leave the offices of four Republican senators who refuse to support Senate Bill 237, the Fair Employment Act, KEYE reports:

Michael Diviesti of GetEQUAL TX says, "What the bill does is says 'hey look, if you live in Texas you can't fire somebody simply because they happen to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender.' You have to have a real reason to fire someone or deny them employment."

We tried to speak with all of the four senators who the protesters say are not supporting the bill, none could speak to us on camera. Senate Bill 237 is currently stuck in committee, where it's been for the last month. It will stay there until it gets the votes needed to move to the next level.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...