Controversy surrounds a Texas judge’s divorce of a gay couple.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed this decision. Abbott argued that since the couple were married in Massachusetts, a state which allows gay marriage, they could not be divorced in Texas, a state which does not allow it.

“Because the parties’ Massachusetts-issued arrangement is not a marriage under Texas law, they are asking a Texas court to recognize — and dissolve — something that does not legally exist,” Abbott has said in a statement. “These two men are seeking a court ruling that challenges the Texas Constitution, therefore the Office of the Attorney General will intervene to defend Texas law — and the will of Texas voters.”

The case will continue to be appealed and could make it to the Texas Supreme Court, political observers said to the Miami Herald.

“This is likely to be the major civil rights initiative of the coming decade,” Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said to the Miami Herald. “The 1960s were about the rights of blacks, the 70s were about the rights of women. Civil rights initiatives (for same-sex couples) is likely to be the next one we wrestle with.”

To read more on this story, visit the Miami Herald.