Texas AG Intervenes in Gay Divorce

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott has intervened in a same-sex divorce case, saying that two women married in Massachusetts cannot divorce in Texas because state law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The case concerns Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly, who married in Massachusetts in 2004 and adopted a son together. They lived in Austin but separated more than a year ago.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, "Last week, at the close of a two-day hearing before state district judge Scott Jenkins on how they should divide their property and share custody of their son, the two reached an agreement that in part called for them to divorce."

"According to Naylor's lawyer, Jennifer Cochran, Jenkins granted the divorce orally and ordered the parties to put their agreement in writing and return to court next month for his signature."

Attorney general Abbott petitioned to intervene on Thursday after the agreement was reached. He said that legal voidance of the marriage, and not divorce, is the appropriate fix.

"Abbott's petition in intervention was filed Thursday after the agreement was reached in court," reports the American-Statesman. "In it, Abbott notes that after Naylor filed for divorce in December, Daly argued that divorce was the wrong legal remedy for the couple and that the court should instead declare the marriage void."

Abbott previously intervened in a same-sex divorce case in October when Dallas County district judge Tena Callahan ruled that two men could divorce.