DALLAS – Gay couples legally married in other states ff14 gold cannot get a divorce in Texas, where same-sex marriage is banned, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday. ff14 gil The 5th Texas Court of Appeals ruled that a Dallas district court judge didn't have the authority to hear a divorce case involving two Dallas men who married in ffxiv gold Massachusetts in 2006. Republican state Attorney General Greg Abbott's office had appealed after Judge Tena Callahan, ff14 gil a Democrat, said she did have jurisdiction and dismissed the state's attempt to intervene. "Today's court of appeals decision overruled ffxiv gil the district court's improper ruling, confirmed the constitutionality of Texas' traditional definition of marriage and correctly found that Texas ffxiv gold courts lack the legal authority to grant divorces to same-sex couples," said Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland. Callahan also had ruled Texas couldn't limit marriage to a man and a ff14 cd key woman, but the appeals court said the state's ff14 power leveling same-sex marriage ban was constitutional. "A person does not and cannot seek a divorce without simultaneously asserting the existence and validity of ffxiv power leveling a lawful marriage," Justice Kerry P. Fitzgerald wrote on behalf of three Republican appeals court justices. "Texas law, as embodied in our constitution and statutes, requires that a valid marriage must be a union of one ffxiv gil man and one woman, and only when a union comprises one man and one woman can there be a divorce under Texas law." ffxiv gil The appeals court ordered the case be sent back to Callahan, who must vacate her order. The men, known only as J.B. and H.B. in court filings, separated amicably two cheap ff14 gil years after getting married. J.B.'s attorney, Peter Schulte, has said ffxiv gold the two men had no children and weren't arguing over how to divide their property, but wanted an official divorce. Schulte said Tuesday they had not yet decided ff14 gil whether to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. "We obviously disagree with the justices' ruling, but we respect ffxiv gil the process and respect the court," Schulte said. ff14 time card Abbott's office had argued before the three-judge appeals court in April that the couple was not eligible for a divorce in Texas because the state didn't recognize their marriage. Jody Scheske, another lawyer for J.B., argued ffxiv power leveling his client was entitled to a divorce because he had a valid marriage. The appeals court fffxiv power level agreed with Abbott that such unions could be dissolved by having the marriage declared void. Among the reasons J.B. argued for a divorce rather than a voidance was ffxiv key that spousal support ffxiv key and community property laws only apply in divorce cases. The appeals court said those issues are policy arguments that must be addressed by the Legislature. "It's deeply disappointing to see courts ffxiv cd key deny same-sex couples equal treatment under the law," said Jennifer Pizer, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, which promotes equal rights for gay, ffxiv cd key lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Texas voters passed a constitutional amendment to ban same-ffxiv cd key sex marriage by a 3-to-1 margin in 2005 even though state law already prohibited it. Kelly Shackelford, president of the conservative Plano-based final fantasy xiv key Liberty Institute, said the Tuesday ruling "strikes down an activist judge's attempt to take the law into her own hands." Abbott's office also appealed a gay divorce case in Austin after a judge final fantasy xiv key there granted a divorce earlier this year to two women who married in Massachusetts in 2004. The Austin ffxiv cd key appeals court has not yet heard arguments in that case. One of the women, Angelique Naylor, told The Associated Press in April, "We didn't ask for a marriage; we simply asked for the courtesy ffxiv key of divorce." She referred requests for comment about Tuesday's ruling to Scheske, who also is her attorney. Earl was expected to ff14 time card remain over the open ocean before turning north and running parallel to the East Coast, bringing high winds and heavy rain to North Carolina's Outer Banks by late Thursday or early Friday. From there, forecasters said, final fantasy xiv game card it could curve away from the coast somewhat as it makes it way north, perhaps hitting Massachusetts' ff14 cd key Cape Cod and the Maine shoreline on Friday night and Saturday. "My guests are calling and they don't know what to do and I don't know what to tell them," said Dave Dawson, owner of the oceanfront Cape ff14 cd key Hatteras Motel in Buxton, N.C. Forecasters cautioned that it was still too early to tell how close Earl might come to land, though hurricane buy ffxiv time card watches were out from Surf City, N.C., to the Virginia border. Not since Hurricane Bob in 1991 has such a powerful storm had such a large cheap ffxiv cd key swath of the East Coast in its sights, said ff14 cd key Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center