Local reactions to amendment’s passage vary
Voters give marriage amendment their blessing
Ban on gay marriage passes by large margin statewide
That’s where the victory was won, from the pulpits of the state of Texas. The people of Texas have spoken and they intend that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
- Rep. Warren Chisum (R- Pampa)
So hatred and the willingness to define an entire minority class of Texas citizens as second-class human beings is now part of the state constitution? By a 3-1 margin, Texans demonstrated their willingness to oppress, marginalize, and relegate Gays and Lesbians to permanent second-class status in Texas. Nice going, eh?
I’m not surprised that Prop 2 passed. What does surprise and greatly disturb me is the 76%-24% margin it was approved by. What most Texans don’t realize is that they just approved an amendment to the Texas constitution that effectively invalidates ALL marriages in Texas. Don’t believe me? Read the language:
Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.
“ANY LEGAL STATUS IDENTICAL OR SIMILAR TO MARRIAGE.” That language doesn’t make a distinction for Gays and Lesbians vis a vis heterosexuals, does it? If Prop 2 stands, all of us who think we’re married are no longer parties to valid marriages, because The Great State of Texas no longer recognizes “any legal status identical or similar to marriage.” You might thinking I’m joking, but I’m as serious as a heart attack about this. 76% of y’all just voted your own marriages out of existence. Beware the law of unintended consequences, eh?
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the outcome was not unexpected.
“When you put a fundamental right of a minority up for popular vote, it’s almost impossible to win,” said Foreman. “I’m not sure the right to desegregate schools, the freedom to marry another race or even access to contraception in many states would exist if those issues were put up for a vote.”….
Although Texas has an existing law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, locking that definition into the state constitution would make it more difficult for a future Legislature to change.
The campaign featured references to the Bible and a high-profile rally by a handful of Ku Klux Klan members in Austin against same-sex marriages. Chisum and other backers of Proposition 2 distanced their cause from the Klan rally….
‘Course, if the KKK rally convinced a few more good, God-fearing White folk to get off their couches and vote against Prop 2, well Chisum and his fellow travellers weren’t about to refuse the support, we’re they?
Both sides largely ran a grass-roots, word-of-mouth campaign, using some targeted television ads and phone banks to reach potential voters.
Opponents said the initiative’s poor wording could effectively nullify all marriages. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott disagreed with that interpretation and recorded a phone message saying that the amendment did not threaten traditional marriages.
The amendment defines marriage as “the union of one man and one woman” and prohibits the state from “creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”
Well, of course Abbott’s going to say that. He’s a Republican, and no Republican in a state-wide office who wants to entertain any hope of re-election would issue a ruling that could be interpreted as pro-Gay Rights. In the end, it’s not going to be Abbott’s opinion that matters, anyway. How long before some enterprising attorney looking to make a name for himself cobbles together a test case? If one simply reads the language of Prop 2’s Sec. 32 (b), it should be clear that the Amendment makes no distinction based on sexual orientation. Hell, if I were an attorney, I’D be trying to cobble together a test case.
Clearly, this was a case of Texans voting based on their fear and ignorance. I wonder how many Texans even bothered to read Prop 2 and had ANY idea of just what it was you were voting for? Yes, I respect the concept of Majority Rules, but a 3-1 majority may make Prop 2 part of the Texas Constitution, but it doesn’t make it right. Make no mistake about it; enshrining hatred and the subjugation of a minority class into the Texas Constitution is just plain wrong.
I am very disappointed in Texas this morning, though I am not surprised. When I moved here eight and a half years ago, I knew that Texas was one of the most Conservative, least accepting states in the Union, and yesterday’s vote on Prop 2 certainly has done anything to erase that impression. What I hadn’t imagined is the overwhelming willingness of Texan to enshrine hatred in their constitution.
So, who’s next?
