this makes the gay baby jesus cry....

[HomoSexualPredator]

Gay marriage ban put to vote

Senate favors placing constitutional amendment, which has already passed House, on Nov. 8 ballot

01:05 AM CDT on Sunday, May 22, 2005

By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – The state Senate voted Saturday to let Texans decide this fall whether to join 17 other states that constitutionally prohibit the recognition of gay marriages and civil unions.

In a 21-8 vote, Republican senators and three Democrats fended off challenges to a constitutional amendment that would enshrine a definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

The measure also prohibits cities, counties or the state from acknowledging "any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

It already has passed the House and does not require the governor's signature. With final Senate passage – a formality – the proposed amendment will be placed on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Two years ago, the Legislature passed an anti-gay-marriage law, but backers said a constitutional amendment is needed to prevent any court from thwarting the statute or recognizing a same-sex union from another state.

"I believe we should protect the institution of marriage," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine. "We should hold that up higher than any other relationship."

He denied that the proposal is discriminatory and said he didn't expect the amendment to affect domestic-partner health benefits, rights of survival, living wills or common-law marriages.

But a series of Democrats challenged such assumptions, saying the amendment reverses the historical role of constitutional law in extending civil rights.

They also said the amendment wasn't adequately vetted by legal experts, who could say whether the prohibition against civil unions could have unintended consequences of causing partners to lose insurance, be denied hospital access in emergencies or nullify the rights of common-law marriages.

Mr. Staples said he spoke to the state's solicitor general, who assured him the amendment would not cause such problems. "This does not impact private contracts. That's clear," he said.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, likened the bill to the "darkest days" in Texas, when discrimination against blacks was written into state laws.

"At least they had the good sense to never write their bigotry into our constitution," Mr. Ellis said.

He predicted that in the not-too-distant future, "society will shift" and visitors in the gallery will laugh at the gay marriage amendment as future lawmakers try to remove it from the books, just as other Southern states have tried to erase Jim Crow laws from their constitutions.

"They'll spend the same amount of time getting the same kind of trash out of our constitution as the people of Alabama are taking to get it out of theirs," Mr. Ellis said.

Mr. Staples ruffled at the idea that he was trying to disparage gays and lesbians.

"I predict there won't come a time when people will regret that the Legislature took the time to protect the marriage between one man and one woman," he said.

Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, also said the amendment was a political ploy and that his colleagues were "piling on a group of people who just want to be left alone."

Mr. Staples said society already makes distinctions about marriage by outlawing polygamy and incest.

"There's a distinction between intimate associations and the right to have the government recognize or subsidize your arrangement," he said.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst praised passage of the amendment after the vote.

"HJR 6 memorialized that marriage is between a man and a woman, something that I feel strongly about, the Senate feels strongly about," Mr. Dewhurst said.

Gay-rights groups called the amendment dangerous because of its potential to undo domestic partnership rights. They also questioned the priority of such a move while the Legislature has yet to pass a budget, approve public school financing or deal with the crisis in Child Protective Services.

"This is clearly a discriminatory act, designed to strike at our community at its fundamental level: our families," said Randall Ellis, director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, who is no relation to the senator.

Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network called the amendment "unnecessary and divisive" because same-sex marriage is already illegal.

While most of the debate was intense, some senators tried to add a little levity. Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, offered a three-strikes-your-out amendment that would have prevented someone thrice divorced from remarrying, thereby protecting the sanctity of marriage, he said.

And Sen. Leticia Van De Putte, D-San Antonio, said she was urged by a constituent to offer a "some-sex marriage" provision.

"All marriages have to have some sex. That ought to strengthen marriage," she said.
HOW THEY VOTED
For the amendment:

Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria; Kip Averitt, R-McGregor; Kenneth Brimer, R-Fort Worth; Robert Deuell, R-Greenville; Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock; Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler; Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls; Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay; Chris Harris, R-Arlington; Mike Jackson, R-LaPorte; Kyle Janek, R-Houston; Jon Lindsay, R-Houston; Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville; Frank Madla, D-San Antonio; Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville; Steve Ogden, R-Bryan; Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo; Florence Shapiro, R-Plano; Todd Staples, R-Palestine; Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio; Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands.
Against the amendment:

Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin; Rodney Ellis, D-Houston; Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; Leticia Van De Putte, D-San Antonio; Royce West, D-Dallas; John Whitmire, D-Houston; Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.
Absent:

Mario Gallegos, D-Houston; John Carona, R-Dallas

[matt]

sux mang. you should move to sf. seems like you are in the wrong part of the country...

[bushsucks]

cool, gotta love texas huh.


now people will stop being gay, i love how the rights mind works.

[FORCE]

Yeah....same sex marriage is so gay.

No wonder AIDS/STDs are in such full effect these days...that is the weapon of mass destruction

[HomoSexualPredator]

Originally Posted by matt

sux mang. you should move to sf. seems like you are in the wrong part of the country...

yep, we're looking out to the west coast pretty soon. We're going to do that before we adopt, fo shizzle. The sad part is, I actually kinda like dallas.

[HomoSexualPredator]

Originally Posted by DJ FORCE

Yeah....same sex marriage is so gay.

No wonder AIDS/STDs are in such full effect these days...that is the weapon of mass destruction

I'm not sure I understand your post.

[FORCE]

Originally Posted by HomoQueer

I'm not sure I understand your post.

Me niether?.......hmmmmm........