After his divorce from his wife, Houston resident William Flowers went to court to get legal custody of his son and two daughters. But the jury decided against him and Judge Charley E. Prine Jr. tacked on an additional requirement that Flowers never leave his three biological children alone with his legally married husband Jim Evans or anyone who not related by blood or adoption unless Flowers’ ex-wife gives her permission—something he doubts she will ever give.
Though the courts usually impose this sort of restriction on a parent when abuse has been alleged, no such claim has been made in this case. Flowers and Evans claim that Judge Prine simply added the requirement for his own homophobic joy—they plan to appeal his decision. But in the meanwhile the court has basically said that Evans cannot be trusted alone Flowers’ kids, even though Evans has two of his own.
Following Judge Prine’s ruling to its logical end, Prine would rather Flowers leave his children at home unsupervised than leave them with a non-relative. If Flowers has to work on the weekend, “Bye kids! Enjoy your Saturday completely alone. Try not to get injured or watch Cinemax!” If one of the kids has to stay home sick from school, “Sorry kid. The Pepto is in the bathroom and the throw-up bucket is under the sink… good luck!”
Basically the Judge has made it where Flowers either has to stay shackled to his kids until they’re 18, quit his job and become a full-time stay-at-home dad, or abandon his children just to fulfill the court mandate.
How about we take this to the next level?
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That’s Texas justice for ya, cowboys and cowgirls.
verybookish
This is f***ed up
TMikel
Please note that this is Texas. There is no more benighted state in the union, no other state that executes so many people – and would rather execute the innocent than stop executions, no other state where ALL public school textbooks must be chosen by statewide committee, no other state where Perry and the GOP has inflicted so much damage to so many, and, to my knowledge, no other state that has seriously considered secession. We should have let them leave and cut off all aid to the state. I believe the people of Texas would rebell quickly enough or the good thinking people woudl leave.
Um....
Isn’t that the very same city that has one of the worst congestion/urban sprawl problems and one of the highest murder rates in the country? Maybe this is why. FOCUS YOU STUPID TEXANS!!! FOCUS!!!
xander
Urggh: A shining example of conservative ‘judicial activism’ in Texas, a.k.a. Perrystan! I hope Flowers wins his appeal and that this Judge is shown publicly to have followed neither the letter nor the spirit of applicable law.
/rant.
Auggie
Meh, I have zero sympathy for closet cases who get married, troll for dick on the side, and then act like they’re completely innocent when their Ex lashes out.
Remember: Before she was a vindictive bitch, she was the woman you pretended to be in love with.
the crustybastard
Before he was a judge, Charley Prine Jr. was “Regional Political Director at Republican National Committee.”
When Hair Balls [a blog] asked [ex-wife] Lacey’s lawyer Jennifer Broussard if the injunction was aimed at William’s husband, she said, “Well, he doesn’t have a husband in Texas, dear.”
And that’s what it boils down to.
When our families have no legal status, they have no legal protection. When they have no legal protection, the government and private parties are allowed to regard our families and loved ones as nothing more than hookups, babysitters and random strangers.
Desdemona
People like the judge say that gays don’t make good parents- well how can you say that when you don’t even give them a chance?!
Aki
@Auggie:
This , so very much
No Homo
@Auggie: I agree this poor women was treated like shit by this guy.
ewe
Filthy fucking Judge unable to remain impartial.
jasonut29
Unless the asshole judge can come up with a reason why this is NOT related to being gay his ass is grass! In Idaho the supreme court ruled that restrictions cannot be based on sexual orientation….this was Idaho folks so full of wacko conservatives that you can’t see past them BUT the court ruled against the stupid and with the rational!!
ewe
@jasonut29: Don’t bet on anything negative happening to this judge. The most severe ruling probably would be “improper” at best. Judge Prine is disgusting to the core. He must stay in his temple and off the bench. It is pretty damn obvious he is a christian fanatic infiltrating the judiciary.
ewe
This is what legislating from the Bench means. Where is all the conservative outrage??? After all that is their mantra. The uninsured can just drop dead is their more recent brainless slogan. Surprise surprise.
BTM4JZS
Yeah it’s Texas–the same Texas with Texans who voted a lesbian as mayor of the fourth largest city in the nation–Houston! The largest GLBT church is located in Dallas–Cathedral of Hope; openly gay architect Philip Johnson designed many of Dallas/Ft.Worth and Houston’s major skyscrapers; Austin is down with the gays; This is not your father’s Texas.
BTM4JZS
Whoa! Yeah it’s Texas–the same Texas with Texans who voted a lesbian as mayor of the fourth largest city in the nation–Houston! The nation’s largest GLBT church is located in Dallas–Cathedral of Hope; openly gay architect Philip Johnson designed many of Dallas/Ft.Worth and Houston’s major skyscrapers; Austin is down with the gays; This is not your father’s Texas.
Brian
@Auggie: Excellent point. While he was “finding himself” and using her as a beard, she was likely reeling from living a lie and left with nobody while he was off with his new hubby.
It’s understandable why she’d be as nasty as possible.
Sure, the judge is an a-hole, but former hubby is also getting karmic payback for using the poor ex-wife as his beard before discarding her when his hot dream stud came along and he could ditch her.
newcityspot
@BTM4JZS: Phew, that’s for the note…I am moving back in 2 weeks after not having lived there in 16 years to take care of family and was getting worried about what life was going to be like.
perdeep
Homophobia aside, I don’t even get how that can possibly be a legal requirement in the first place. Does that mean he can’t leave them with a babysitter? Does that mean he has to homeschool them, since going to school would mean being left in the care of an unrelated teacher? ???????
ewe
@BTM4JZS: wow, that’s a whole 2 gay people.
ewe
@Auggie: You can feel whatever dysfunctional judgement your warped mind wants to but the point is that the judge is not to side with your so called jilted ex wife. Get a fucking grip and take the stake out of your partners heart. All your bullshit means nothing when it comes to heterosexual child custody cases.
ewe
@perdeep: Imagine what that asshole has done to other people? It’s all on file and has all been ignored up till this point.
CBRad
@BTM4JZS: One of the written gay ghetto rules is that you have to hate Texas. Don’t waste time arguing with them.
Cam
The bar needs to make the judge explain the reasoning for his ruling. But again, this is Texas. When asked to explain why Texas is in debt if he is such a good governor. Gov. Perry said it’s the Mexicans fault….so yeah, nothing bigoted coming out of this state surprises me.
Robert in NYC
No surprise there. This backwater of a state ranks in the bottom 5 of every failure under a republican administration governing the state. It’s the only state which executes more people than any other and if you happen to be in the wrong place in a murder inquiry and you haven’t committed the actual crime, you can face the death penalty as we’ll be seeing next tuesday. Perry wants to make the U.S. into a transformation of Texas. Good luck with that Tea Party scumbaggers and your fellow Civil Libertarians as well as gay oxymoronic republicans voting for this scum.
Erik
Texas is the outhouse of America.
Mike in Asheville
@Auggie: Irrespective of the awful situation between the former spouses — and I do agree with you that the ex-husband is at mighty fault here — the decision should only be about what is in the best interests of the children.
It is certainly not in the children’s best interests to have their lives hindered by a homophobic based ruling preventing them from engaging in the family life that is their family life.
All too typical of the homophobic bias — what about the children? Well, let them rot in unloving homes/institutions rather than thrive in a loving gay household.
Pete n SFO
I’m sure this Judge is a jerk, but it’s worth noting that the whole family law system is f’d up; it takes forever, costs huge money, & is easily manipulated.
I had a friend with a similar experience here in San Fran, and he’s straight.
If the request is made, out of spite, animus, or w/ rational fear, it’s the same. The Court doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of a PR mess should something ever go wrong.
the crustybastard
@No Homo: “I agree this poor women was treated like shit by this guy.”
Even assuming she was, that justifies her divorce — not interfering in a father’s relationship with his child. I realize you’re one of Auggie’s sockpuppets, but in case anyone actually believes this is marginally relevant to the judge’s decision in a child custody case…IT ISN’T.
A judge legally is barred from making child custody determinations a reward or punishment for how the parties comported themselves during the marriage, or subsequently — except to the extent there was abuse. Wife has alleged husband abused her in two separate cases; one case was dismissed and the other he was acquitted, so both cases are legally irrelevant to the custody determinations. There are no allegations or even suspicions that father’s husband has abused the child.
The judge’s order continues to allow wife’s full custody per the parties original parenting plan, and take wife’s suggestion to bar child from being left with any unrelated MALE; thus, the court order is CLEARLY a measure to keep child away from father’s husband because he is male, and so the order is OBVIOUSLY an abuse of discretion, and a pretty clear case of gender discrimination.
Somebody in Texas needs to file a complaint with the state bar.
Jerry
Another Dan Villarreal fail! The judge entered this order in June and the media – including all of the gay blogs – covered the story extensively in August. Now Villarreal saunters up to his keyboard and posts a story in mid-September as if he’s breaking a story for Queerty, even embedding an old TV news clip to make it seem like a breaking story.
Villarreal, it is bad enough that your homophobic posts have hurt gay families and that you have refused to apologize for them. But you also suck at journalism.
Cam
@Jerry:
Let me guess, somebody who writes for a competing blog?
SuperCat
This isn’t just a gay issue, the courts are notoriously unfair to fathers. Even perfectly capable fathers with no history of abuse.
Not to mention the women that lie about their husbands abusing their kids.
Jean
@Auggie: What makes you think he was a closet case? Not everyone realizes they’re gay when they’re three for fuck’s sake.
BryceTx
Used to be proud to be a Texan. Not so much anymore…
callon
@the crustybastard: Is there a link to the judge’s order? That would go much further into understanding what the ruling is based on. If the judge really wanted to screw with the couple he could have gone further and limited visitation.
And why is it an issue that he specified “male”? That’s the correct gender for the person the father is dating. How is this different than a wife specifying a straight ex-husband can’t leave the children with an unrelated female after a divorce? Yes it means whomever they’re dating! Most recently it was Tiger Woods’ divorce that specified the children couldn’t be left with a female the mother didn’t approve of. There was no uproar over the gender specified. It doesn’t apply to spouses, but they’re not married in Texas. It happens in heterosexual cases so why should homosexual cases be the exception?
callon
Why is it an issue that he specified “male”? That’s the correct gender for the person the father is dating. How is this different than a wife specifying a straight ex-husband can’t leave the children with an unrelated female after a divorce? Yes it means whomever they’re dating! Most recently it was Tiger Woods’ divorce that specified the children couldn’t be left with a female the mother didn’t approve of. There was no uproar over the gender specified. It doesn’t apply to spouses, but they’re not married in Texas. It happens in heterosexual cases so why should homosexual cases be the exception?
callon
Wait a moment. He went to court 2 years ago to change custody, but he married only last year. So regardless of the CT marriage not being recognized in TX, he initially filed as a single man in a relationship with someone. So, why was the judge wrong to take that into consideration?
Gay guy from New York
Repeal (or overturn) of the DOMA law would solve the problem! The judge would have no choice but to make the same rule as if he had been married to a female spouse.
Chelsea
This judge is pretty disgusting. I had an issue myself with him just shortly after this. Here’s my story.
My fiancee’s parents paid a lot of money to get partial custody of their granddaughter because they have no meaning in life if they’re not caring for children. They’re old, sick and the the Father likes to fondle and molest his granddaughter. Also, I feel it necessary to say that none of the parents have a criminal or drug history and have good, full-time jobs which support them. Unfortunately none of us have the 20 or 30 thousand dollars it would take to fix that. But here’s what Charley did in a nutshell.
On November 11th, 2011, My fiancee’s Father dropped his granddaughter off at school and her step dad picked her up from school that afternoon. She got in the car crying and red-faced and her folder showed that she had been disciplined that day. This was very much out of the ordinary for her. On the way home she cried out to her step dad that “awpaw” had poked her “down there” in the shower. Step dad raced home and informed her Mother of what had happened and a quick visual examination confirmed it.
Being close to my fiancee’s ex-wife since I started dating her ex-husband and having a strong family background in law, the Mother called me crying in a panic asking what to do and I told her to call the police and make a report that instant and get ready to take her to Texas Children’s hospital. I told her the next step was to get a lawyer to file an injunction to prevent the grandparents from being allowed their court ordered visitation for the following weekend, which she did to the T.
Later that evening, my fiancee and I met her, her husband and the child at the hospital where it was confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had been sexually assaulted. To make matters worse, we also found out that while the grandparents had primary custody, they removed the parents contact info on file at the hospital and added a note that no one was to be contacted but them regarding the child. That was illegal considering that they had to inform both parents immediately of any emergencies and get consent for any non-emergency medical issues.
So to make a long story longer, the grandparents got a very expensive lawyer and convinced Charley Prine that the Mother must have assaulted the child herself to frame the grandfather so she could pull their custody and have the right to move out of state to a military base where her husband was soon to be stationed. First of all she would need the Fathers consent. Second, we discussed that issue as soon as it was decided that the Mothers husband was going to the military and she more than understood that we wouldn’t allow although there would be compromises for her beyond the typical.
So today, the Mother gets supervised visitation every Tuesday between 3:30pm and 6:00pm, and the child sleeps under her molesters roof 26 days a month.
If Prine really believed the Mother did it, he would be seeking charges against her. And aside from that, even if he believed the grandfather didn’t do this (which common sense says he definitely did) why would he risk it? What if he is wrong?
It gets even sadder…my fiancee’s twin sister is pretending not to believe that her Father did this and is now trying to be the Mommy. She has quit her job and now spends every moment she’s awake at her parents house playing Mommy and manipulating her niece.
This little girl is being coached on a daily basis to lie when she’s asked about the incident, her hair is hacked of yet again, shes constantly on prescription drugs because the grandparents are so overprotective, and she refers to her parents as “Bad Mommy” and “Bad Daddy” and her Aunt and her husband as “Good Mommy” and “Good Daddy”.
This judge has handed this little girl over to old sick people who would be lucky if they lived another 2 years. The Grandmother has had heart and brain surgery and is considered a miracle patient, she’s on 30 different drugs which included heavy sleep aids that cause her to pass clean out with drool dripping down her chin for 10 hours a night and 3 hours during the day for her nap while the Grandfather is alone to do whatever he wants when he’s awake during the early am hours of the night.
All 4 of the parents have been completely tapped out financially from these legal issues, can barely keep roofs over their heads, and can’t seem to work enough to earn the money for a decent lawyer to fix this. I want this piece of shit judge off the bench. He was obviously paid off for this case and the one this article is on. He has an innocent face and evil in his heart.