A great man passed away last week. Diminutive in size, yet a giant in our North Texas LGBTQ community in every way that matters: character, courage, grit, humor, loyalty, joy and love. George Harris left us at 92.
His passing should not go unnoticed, because the arc of his life is like so many who lived, worked, loved and survived for decades in the shadow of discrimination, persecution and prosecution simply for who we love and who we are. And we must see this in the context of today.
Most in Dallas remember George as one half of the duo Jack (Evans) and George, the first same-sex couple married in Dallas County after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing gay marriage. Their joyous picture was on the front page of The Dallas Morning News. By every measure, Jack and George’s marriage was filled with love, partnership and respect. You couldn’t ask for two better standard bearers.
In the 1950s, George was in the Army applying for a position at the Central Intelligence Agency. A background check revealed he was gay, and he was arrested and drummed out of the military with a dishonorable discharge. He moved to Dallas where he met Jack in 1961, who had moved here after being fired from Neiman Marcus in Houston for being gay. Here, they built a successful real estate business, while bravely becoming champions for the LGTBQ community. The two have received almost every major recognition afforded by the Dallas gay community, along with deep affection.
Opinion
Jack passed in 2016. But George lived long enough to see the landmark victories they fought for attacked with a vengeance.
Texas lawmakers are again taking up a bathroom bill that would humiliate transgender people.
The religious right is throwing a tantrum because home-improvement channel Magnolia Network included a Dallas gay couple (gasp) and their twin sons on their new HBO reality show Back to the Frontier.
The Trump administration has discharged transgender troops, ending decades-long careers of honorable service without any evidence they’ve diminished our armed forces’ effectiveness or fighting power. Adding to the spite, the Pentagon is denying them the earned benefits non-trans troops would have received.
At the Southern Baptist Convention’s gathering this year in Dallas, it declared war on marriage equality, adopting a strategy of only supporting federal judicial candidates committing to overturning Obergefell.
And remember Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk jailed for six days in 2015 because she refused to marry gay couples? She is advancing her cause to the Supreme Court, now as a First Amendment speech case but specifically asking SCOTUS to toss out the Obergefell ruling. She argues it was wrongly decided on the 14th Amendment right to privacy, the same reasoning used to overturn Roe v. Wade ending 50 years of abortion rights.
In his majority opinion in that case, Dobbs v. Jackson, Justice Samuel Alito emphasized the ruling does not apply to gay marriage nor the right to contraception, which both rely on a right to privacy. But Justice Clarence Thomas dissented saying if the 1973 Roe decision was incorrectly decided, the court should reverse its “mistake” on gay marriage the moment it can, practically inviting people like Davis to try. We should be concerned. Obergefell was decided in a 5-4 decision. This Supreme Court is far more conservative. It’s shown little respect for precedent and won’t hesitate to roll over it.
Never mind the 770,000-plus same-sex marriages as of 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, and all the children that now make up their families. Most of these unions began as love stories, just like that of Jack Evans and George Harris, together for 56 years.
Fortunately, Jack and George did not stay in the shadows and quietly live their lives during the most shameful years in our nation’s history. They chose for their love to be visible. They chose to fight. They helped reveal our nation’s better angels. If we value what they and all of us have achieved, we must pick up their fight. Remember, while the arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, it can snap back with ferocity. Our progress demands our determined vigilance.
Chris Heinbaugh is former journalist and a longtime advocate for the arts and the LGBTQ community.
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