Texas House passes ban on gay foster parents News
Texas House passes ban on gay foster parents

[JURIST] The Texas House of Representatives has passed legislation [text] which would bar homosexuals from becoming foster parents. The ban, part of the state's attempt to revamp its Child Protective Services Agency [official website], passed 135-6 Tuesday with two abstentions and now goes to the state Senate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay rights project [advocacy website], Texas would be the first state in the union to prohibit gays from becoming foster parents. Arkansas previously barred gays from becoming foster parents, but a judge ruled the ban to be unconstitutional [JURIST report] in December. Under the Texas ban, everyone who applies to be a foster parent or a foster parent must indicate their sexual preference whether homosexual or bisexual. If the question is answered in the affirmative, the person would be barred from serving as a foster parent. If a homosexual is already a foster parent, the child would be removed from the home. Read the Texas House press release. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.