AUSTIN, TX - Angelique S. Naylor and Sabina Daly were legally married in the State of Massachusetts in 2004, where gay marriage is legal. 

They have since moved to Texas, where it is not.  Now, having been separated for more than a year, they are asking the courts to grant them a divorce.  The problem is, of course, that Texas doesn't consider them married in the first place.

Divorce is not a separate legal issue from marriage.  In the State of Texas, the proper terminology to file for a divorce is a "Motion To Declare Marriage Void In Texas.” 

Naylor, the respondant in the case said "We never asked them to grant us a same-sex marriage. We only asked them to legally recognize that we needed a divorce," Naylor said.

District Court Judge Scott Jenkins originally heard the case and, after several weeks of negotiations and deliberations, was ready to grant the couple a divorce when State Attorney General Greg Abbott finally intervened in the case.

Abbot stated in the petition that he filed last week that to allow a divorce in this case would invalidate the Constitution of the State of Texas and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 

A copy of the petition filed by Abbott is embedded below:

Petition in Intervention of the State of Texas