Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Texas have some protections in state law but may face legal and social challenges not faced by others. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Texas in 2003 by the Lawrence v. Texas ruling. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges. The federal Respect for Marriage Act, enacted in 2022, established legal protections for same-sex marriages. Under this law, every state, including Texas, must recognize same-sex marriages that were lawfully performed in another state. However, the act does not obligate states to issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Every couple in Texas follows the same steps when applying for a marriage license. A majority of Texans support same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws for LGBTQ people.

Texas has a hate crime statute that strengthens penalties for certain crimes motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, although crimes are rarely prosecuted under the statute. The law does not cover gender identity. While some localities in Texas have ordinances that provide a variety of legal protections and benefits to LGBTQ people, Texas has had no statewide law banning anti-LGBT discrimination. The federal protections against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, established in 2020 by several landmark cases, apply in Texas. Several metropolitan cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, provide resources, supportive communities, and local anti-discrimination protections for their LGBTQ people. Since September 1, 2025, Texas has explicitly listed banned DEI school and even certain workplace programs for sexual orientation—the implemented law is being challenged by the courts. In November 2025, Texas voters passed a legislative amendment codifying "parental rights" within the state's constitution.

Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity

Sodomy ban Until the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2003 declared sodomy laws unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas, sodomy was a criminal offense in Texas, termed "deviate sexual intercourse". As of 2023, Texas is one of the three states where dormant sodomy laws only apply to same-sex acts, alongside Kentucky and Kansas. Several bills intended to repeal the sodomy ban have been introduced since Lawrence. A bill repealing the state's law banning male homosexuality was passed by the Texas House in 2025. However, it failed to be passed by the Senate for final approval.

Romeo and Juliet law Texas provides an affirmative defense to a person who has engaged in unlawful sexual contact with a child under 17 years of age, if the person is not more than three years older than the child or a spouse of the child, so long as the person is not of the child's same sex. There has been no published constitutional challenge of this statute since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court held that same-sex marriage bans breach the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) Texas has been the only state to maintain such a distinction on its books since the Kansas Supreme Court found a similar Kansas statute to be unconstitutional in 2005. During the Legislature's 2013 regular session, House Bill 2403, introduced by Representative Mary González, House Bill 3322, introduced by Representative Coleman, and Senate Bill 1316, introduced by Senator John Whitmire, would have repealed this distinction; however, none of these bills was passed by its chamber of origin.

Recognition of same-sex relationships Marriage

On June 26, 2015, U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. By September of that year, the Texas Department of State Health Services estimated it had issued 2,500 same-sex marriage licenses in the months following Obergefell. In order for two people of the same-sex, like a traditional marriage, both individuals must be at least 18 years old, must be unrelated, and must be unmarried or single.

History The first legal challenge to Texas' ban on marriage between two people of the same sex came in 1972 when Travis Co Attorney Ned Granger requested an opinion from Attorney General Crawford Martin on the legality of issuing such licenses. Martin issued an opinion that, despite the lack of a specific prohibition against same-sex marriage in statute, it was not legally permitted. In 1973, the Texas Family Code was amended by House Bill 103 to explicitly state that a marriage license may only be issued to a man and a woman. HB 103 became effective on January 1, 1974.Acts of the Texas Legislature 1973, 63rd Leg. p. 1596, ch 577

In 1997, Texas banned the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Additional legislation in 2003 forbade the recognition of any same-sex marriages or civil unions. In 2005, voters approved a referendum that added those restrictions to the Constitution of Texas.

On February 26, 2014, Judge Orlando Luis Garcia, of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, found that Texas's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. On April 23, 2014, Judge Barbara Nellermoe, of the 45th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, found that Texas's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Both cases were appealed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

In February 2015, two state judges in Travis County held the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. One ordered the recognition of a common-law marriage between two women and the other order the county clerk to issue a marriage license to two women. They obtained their license and wed before Attorney General Ken Paxton obtained stays from the Texas Supreme Court and asked that court to void the marriage license.

Domestic partner benefits

Same sex-marriages have been recognized throughout the state since 2015. Currently, there is no recognition of domestic partnerships at the statewide level in Texas for either same-sex or opposite-sex couples.

Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio provide health insurance to domestic partners of city workers. In 2001, 52% of Houston voters approved Proposition 2, an amendment to the city charter prohibiting the city from providing domestic partner benefits for city employees. The amendment, however, specifically permits benefits to be provided to "legal spouses" of employees, and in November 2013, the city's legal department determined it would be unlawful to continue to deny spousal benefits for legally married same-sex couples.

The Pflugerville Independent School District allows domestic partners of district workers to be included in the district's health insurance plan, although the workers must pay the entire cost of the coverage as they do for any dependent.

Dallas County pays cash subsidies to help cover the cost of individual insurance policies purchased by the domestic partners of county employees. The amount of the subsidy is the same as the amount the county contributes to the group insurance plan that covers county employees, which in October 2012 was $300 per month. The county was unable to add the domestic partners to the group plan because the two other counties participating in the plan, Denton and Tarrant, opposed it.

Travis County allows the domestic partners of county employees to participate as dependents in the county's group insurance plan.

El Paso County provides health benefits to unmarried partners of county employees.

Bexar County allows county employee benefits to be extended to domestic partners.

2013 Texas Attorney General opinion

In April 2013, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, provided his legal opinion that the Texas Constitution prohibits a political subdivision of the state from providing benefits based on a status like "domestic partnership" because it is "similar to marriage". In response, officials in Travis County and Fort Worth defended the legality of their domestic partnership benefits, as did those in other jurisdictions who minimized the significance of the opinion. The Austin Independent School District decided in June 2013 not to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of its employees, but changed its position in August 2013.

Family and relationship policy Adoption and parenting In Texas, any adult may adopt a child without regard to the adult's sexual orientation or gender identity. According to the advocacy organizations, the Family Equality Council and Equality Texas and the non-profit legal services provider Texas Legal Services Center, same-sex couples are able to adopt as a couple if they are legally married. Supplemental birth certificates are issued or amended with the names of the same-sex couple shown as parents. However, adoption agencies, even those with federal funding, are permitted to discriminate against prospective adoptive parents in accord with the religious beliefs of the agency. Lesbian couples can access in vitro fertilization and assisted insemination treatment. However, the state's requirement for health plans to cover IVF includes severe restrictions, "The fertilization or attempted fertilization of the patient's oocytes is made only with the sperm of the patient's spouse," that reduce their access to assisted reproduction.

Adoptions: Past approach Texas statutes have never prohibited same-sex second-parent adoptions or adoption by a same-sex couple and state courts occasionally approved such adoptions, pre-Obergefell v. Hodges. However, such couples were at that time required to adopt as two single people jointly adopting the same child. The Texas Courts of Appeals concluded in 2009 that a lower court's approval of an adoption by a same-sex couple did not represent a "fundamental error". On November 15, 2012, Representative Rafael Anchia introduced House Bill 201 to the Legislature's 2013 regular session. The bill would have deleted the prohibition against issuing a supplemental birth certificate for a child adopted by two men or two women. The bill died in the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence committee of the House of Representatives.

Following the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that compels recognition of same-sex marriage in all states, legally married couples, whether of the same- or opposite-sex, are equally eligible to be considered as adoptive parents, and the prohibition on issuance of supplementary birth certificates listing two men or two women as parents ceased on June 26, 2015.

Politics

The Texas Republican Party holds all statewide offices in Texas, controls both houses of the Texas Legislature as well as the Governor of Texas (known as the government trifecta).

Previous Republican Governor Rick Perry signed a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to oppose same-sex marriage; Perry also dismissed the Lawrence v. Texas U. S. Supreme Court decision as the product of "nine oligarchs in robes".

Republican Governor Greg Abbott holds a conservative stance on LGBTQ rights. On January 30, 2025 Governor Abbott released a press statement affirming that Texas only recognizes two genders and directs Texas State agencies to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order in rejecting gender identities ideologies.

The Texas Democratic Party added certain LGBT rights to the party's platform in 1980, and included same-sex marriage rights in its 2012 platform, becoming the first Democratic state party in the southern United States to do so.

Democrat James Talarico, Texas State Representative and 2026 U.S. Senate Candidate advocates for more inclusive policies and is a member of the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus.

Legislative and regulatory proposals