Judge Gives Texas Deadline on Same-Sex Marriage Policies
Texas on Wednesday began issuing death certificates that recognize same-sex marriages, state officials said.
This came the day after a federal judge gave the state an Aug. 24 deadline to revise death and birth certificates to reflect same-sex marriages. In an advisory sent to the judge Wednesday, a deputy general counsel for the Department of State Health Services said birth certificates would be delayed because of "software modifications" that must be made by a third-party vendor to allow married same-sex couples to be listed on their children's birth certificates.
The policy changes stemmed from a ruling last week in which the federal judge ordered state officials to recognize the same-sex marriage of Conroe resident John Stone-Hoskins by naming him as the surviving spouse on the death certificate of his late husband, James. The couple had wed in New Mexico last year, but Stone-Hoskins was not initially named on the death certificate because the state did not recognize same-sex marriages at the time.
In a court order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said state officials must also assure the court that the health department has granted any pending applications from same-sex couples for amended death and birth certificates before that deadline.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/12/judge-gives-texas-deadline-same-sex-marriage-polic/
