Separate and Unequal - Property Rights Are Important to All

 

For many weeks I've been blogging about Marriage Equality and how it applies to Property Rights.
There are many real property laws that kick in via marriage, particularly with a community property state such as Texas.

* If one spouse owns a property, that property belongs to BOTH spouses regardless of who’s name is on the title.

* If I bought a house completely in my name, it would still belong 50/50 to my spouse.  That is not the case if you are not able to marry.

* Furthermore, the laws of intestacy (dying without a Will) are greatly affected as a same-sex partner is NOT considered an heir.

* Let's say I married a man in another state where it was legal and we lived in Texas in a home titled in BOTH of our names.  If I died without a Will, my half would belong to my blood family.   If Texas recognized our out-of-state marriage, my half would belong to my spouse (assuming there are no children involved).

My hope is that the Texas Association of Realtors and Texas Real Estate Political Action Committee (TREPAC) will stop endorsing candidates who are against marriage equality and thus, against our property rights.  The top four endorsed candidates are anti-equality candidates.  If any of the candidates opposed the rights of women to own property or integrated communities, TREPAC would rightfully pull the endorsement.  But being homophobic isn't considered abhorrent enough in society, or our Association, to demand better candidates.

For example, TREPAC endorsed candidate Paul Bettencourt attended and spoke at the Harris County Republican Party’s “Stand for Marriage” news conference — billed as a "Rally Against Sodomite Marriage".  Paul Bettencourt believes that we should be able to vote on Civil Rights and if enough people vote then certain types of people don't have to be equal. TREPAC should represent it's LGBT Realtor Members better than this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKaYGa8bVnw