Haley Hickey, a recent law school graduate, plans to open her own law practice in her hometown of Lubbock. She also wants to start a family with her wife. But after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, she says her life is in flux.
鈥淚f Texas goes after same-sex marriage, that kind of throws our entire future into chaos,鈥� Hickey said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 go back in the closet, and all it takes is pissing off the wrong prosecutor for that to become personal animosity that can then be used against me and really jeopardize my career.鈥�
Hickey, along with other LGBTQ Texans, are worried the court will such as same-sex marriage. If the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges is overturned, gay marriage would be left up to the states, .
In that case, same-sex couples would not be able to get married because of existing laws in Texas, said Christina Molitor, a family lawyer based in San Antonio: 鈥淏oth that constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman back in 2005, and then the Texas Family Code says that a marriage license can only be issued to a man and a woman.鈥�
Molitor said she鈥檚 received an increase of calls and emails from LGBTQ Texans asking how to protect their marital and parental rights ever since the Dobbs decision was announced a few months ago. Some have decided to take legal matters into their own hands.
鈥淭hese are established couples who are raising families,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd to have to pick up and leave Texas just really seems unfathomable 鈥� unless, of course, your family is no longer going to be protected.鈥�
Hickey and her wife are seriously considering leaving Texas, even if they don鈥檛 want to. The couple are both from Texas and want to live near their families. But if they were to move, New Mexico or Colorado are options.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like frogs in boiling water,鈥� Hickey explained. 鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of like, should we get out while the water is steamy, but before it鈥檚 too late for us to jump? It feels like our safest bet right now is to leave the state.鈥�
Molitor said there isn鈥檛 any historical precedent for what would happen if Obergefell were to be overturned. But she believes it鈥檚 unlikely that the marriage of a currently married LGBTQ couple would be deemed void. The real issue, she said, would be that LGBTQ people wouldn鈥檛 be able to get married moving forward.
Brandon and his husband, Carlos, both software engineers living in San Antonio, became concerned when they first heard the Supreme Court leak. Once the Dobbs decision was official, they decided to not take any chances.
鈥淲e wanted to establish a will just so that at the very least the other one gets to keep our house, our cars, our monetary assets, etc.,鈥� Brandon said. 鈥淎nd then some of the other stuff that we were worried about was medical power of attorney, so if one of us is unconscious in a hospital bed the other one gets the rights to make those decisions of 鈥楧o we pull the plug? Do we do this risky surgery?鈥欌��
Brandon and Carlos also signed a durable power of attorney so they can legally handle each other鈥檚 finances. They鈥檝e spent nearly $2,000 on a lawyer, a privilege they acknowledge not many LGBTQ people have. The couple never thought their martial rights would be in jeopardy when they moved back to Texas from Massachusetts in 2017.
鈥淲e actively made the decision to come back to Texas and be near family,鈥� Brandon said. 鈥淲e bought a house. We have a dog. We really set up roots here. And so it鈥檚 just kind of heartbreaking that we would have to possibly end up going against what we had set out for our lives to be just because of people don鈥檛 like us.鈥�
And now Brandon and Carlos are gearing up to start a family, either through adoption or a surrogate. They worry the court could invalidate same-sex second parent adoptions if Obergefell is overturned. The two are considering moving out of the state as well and possibly relocating to Chicago or Denver.
鈥淚 try to kind of imagine life in another place and think about the good parts of it to try and kind of counteract that,鈥� Carlos said. 鈥淟ike if we鈥檙e living in a snowy place, I鈥檒l try and imagine a fire, snow, Christmas, like happy things, but it鈥檚 still distressing. So, there鈥檚 no kind of getting around it.鈥�
Cecelia Jordan moved to Austin for a Ph.D program with her partner, Zakiya Scott, after living in California for several years. The two were officially married, virtually, over Zoom in the state of Utah while Jordan was studying abroad in May. The couple needed to get married in order to move forward on a legal agreement with a sperm donor. Jordan will carry first and has already begun the insemination process.
鈥淓ven with the legal documentation, they could legally determine that Zakiya is not the parent,鈥� Jordan said. 鈥淓ven with all the estate planning, having adoption papers drafted before all these things. When you鈥檙e family planning, it just gets to this point where I鈥檓 like, 鈥極K, if they overturn it, we have to leave Texas like immediately.鈥欌��
Scott said it feels like the state is stripping away their agency.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just about, like, one thing. It鈥檚 like the spectrum of state violence, especially on Black people 鈥� in this case, we鈥檙e talking about Black birthing people. But it鈥檚 also Black non-birthing people,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淲hether or not you choose to discontinue the pregnancy, whether or not you go through the pregnancy, after pregnancy, there鈥檚 all of these levels of violence that we鈥檙e withstanding.鈥�
Jordan grew up in East Texas and wants to raise her children near her family.
鈥淚n order for my queer family to be safe, they might not be able to be around the massive family that I have that is so loving,鈥� Jordan said. 鈥淢y grandparents are still alive, so I wanted to stay close to home as long as my grandparents are alive, because I know it鈥檚 such a gift. We really wanted to come back to the South and build roots where we come from.鈥�
Molitor reminds clients that overturning the Supreme Court鈥檚 same-sex marriage ruling would take time.
鈥淚 think that although I completely understand the fear and the question, it鈥檚 more important to just take a deep breath, realize nothing鈥檚 going to happen overnight and there鈥檚 going to be ample warning if it looks like this is going to be an issue that the Supreme Court鈥檚 going to decide,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople should just try to focus on living their lives now. And when it really becomes an issue, then start thinking about whether or not they should be leaving the state to a more friendly state.鈥�
But Carlos says it鈥檚 exactly this uncertainty about the future that鈥檚 troubling.
鈥淧eople talk about law and order, but it really throws disorder into our lives when you can鈥檛 count on the stability of law, especially when I鈥檓 planning on fundamental things like where to live.鈥�
If the Supreme Court were to overturn the same-sex marriage ruling, . The only state bordering Texas without a ban on same-sex marriage in the books is New Mexico.
