Gay divorce said aiding gay marriage ban

DALLAS, April 22 (UPI) -- The attorney for a Texas man seeking to end his same-sex marriage argued that granting the divorce actually promotes the state's policy against gay marriages.

Attorney Jody Scheske made his argument Wednesday before a three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. District Court of Appeals in Dallas in the state's appeal of a state district judge's ruling to grant the divorce, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday. In her decision in October, Judge Tena Callahan also ruled the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

"My client is a married man and he needs a divorce," Scheske said, arguing that granting the divorce endorses the state's policy against gay marriage. "But for the actions of the attorney general, there would already be one less same-sex marriage in Texas."

The state attorney general's office argued that recognizing the divorce would mean Texas would have to recognize the marriage. By seeking a divorce, the couple -- identified in court records as JB and HB -- were trying to overturn Texas' gay marriage ban.

The voter-approved amendment prohibits same-sex marriages or civil unions, and state prosecutors argued that a Texas court can't dissolve a marriage that isn't recognized in the first place.

"The parties lack standing to file a divorce because they are not married," Assistant Solicitor General Jimmy Blacklock argued before appeals panel. "If you are not party to a marriage, you cannot file for a divorce."

The state also is appealing a Travis County judge's decision to grant a divorce to a lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts in 2004 and adopted a child.