Gay marriage fight pits Texas AG vs. gay friend
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
WACO, Texas (AP) When Greg Abbott was paralyzed by a fallen tree in 1984, Mark Phariss flew 500 miles to his friends bedside. They were law school pals who swapped stories over dinner, job leads and airport rides, and they still exchange Christmas cards today.
Their friendship is now at an extraordinary junction: Phariss, who is gay, filed the Texas lawsuit that a federal judge used this week to strike down the states ban on same-sex marriage, which Abbott, Texas attorney general, has vowed to defend all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Both chalk it up as a remarkable coincidence. Abbott, a Republican who is running for Texas governor, said Friday he still considers Pharris a friend, even though theyve lost touch in the past decade.
Phariss, who never told Abbott he was gay, echoed the sentiment even as Abbott works to uphold what Phariss considers to be discrimination. If I was only friends with the people I agreed with, particularly in Texas, I wouldnt have many friends, Pharris told The Associated Press.
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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/28/gay_marriage_fight_pits_texas_ag_vs_gay_friend/
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)DonViejo
(60,536 posts)"what self respecting member of the LBGTQ community has friends like THAT?"
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)weissmam
(905 posts)Skittles
(153,298 posts)no indeed
PDittie
(8,322 posts)nevermind.
(but if this were a story about a Democratic candidate for governor, you know that Republicans would be whispering that he was secretly gay)