House Dems Get Game-Changing Assist
from GOP on Same-Sex Sex Ban Repeal
Capitol Inside
May 15, 2025
A dozen Republicans carried the Democrats to a victory on Thursday night when the Texas House voted to repeal a "homosexual conduct" prohibition that the GOP-controlled Legislature has allowed to remain on the books for 22 years since the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.
The measure to erase the invalidated provision from state law survived a legislative traffic jam that put it in jeopardy as time ticked away before a midnight deadline for preliminary votes on proposals that originated in the House. Dozens of other bills that were set for dates on the floor today were on the brink of death in a chamber where there were no visible signs of urgency or concern about the window closing on second-reading votes as the day turned to night in the Capitol City.
House Bill 1738 gained initial approval on a 72-55 tally after a vigorous plug during the debate from State Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian - a firebrand conservative who broke ranks with other far-right Republicans with his support for the measure that would remove the unenforceable provision from state law.
Harrison reminded colleagues that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have called for Texas lawmakers to remove the unenforceable provision from state law. But the chamber's other ardent conservatives refused to heed Harrison's advice on the unconstitutional law that criminalized sexual relations between partners of the same sex.
The legislation had personal implications for its author - State Rep. Venton Jones - a Dallas Democrat who served as chief author of HB 1738. Jones, a second-term representative, mentioned his fiance who's male when he presented the measure to the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee in April.
The Republicans who backed HB 1738 on the vote for tentative approval included State Reps. Jay Dean of Longview, Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Sam Harless of Houston, Hillary Hickland of Belton, Ken King of Canadian, Marc LaHood of San Antonio, John Lujan of San Antonio, Morgan Meyer of Dallas, Dade Phelan of Beaumont, Ellen Troxclair of Lakeway and Denise Villalobos of Corpus Christi.
Hickland, Villalobos and LaHood are in the midst of freshmen terms in the House this year. Phelan served as speaker for two terms before giving the gavel up without a re-election bid in January. King and Meyer are two of the most powerful lieutenants on GOP Speaker Dustin Burrows' team. Guillen is a former Democrat.
Eleven other House Republicans were missing in action with unexcused absences when the vote on HB 1738 was taken early this evening.
The Republicans who supported HB 1738 could face some backlash from the party base in a state where the ruling party lawmakers have whittled away at LGBTQ rights in recent years with legislation that's targeted transgender Texans like the Texas Senate's unsuccessful bathroom bill in 2017.
The Austin television station KXAN reported on Thursday that the Texas Legislature buried 61 previous attempts to overturn the law that made same-sex intercourse a crime in the Lone Star State. Most of those have come since the nation's high court ruling on its unconstitutionality in 2003.
more to come ...
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