Wednesday, November 09, 2005

reason #3457 why I won't be moving to Texas any time soon

Texas bans gay marriage

"Texans know that marriage is between a man and a woman, and children deserve both a mom and a dad. They don't need a Ph.D. or a degree in anything else to teach them that," said Kelly Shackelford, a leader Texans For Marriage, which favored the ban.
I love how the bigots throw the anti-intellectual card..."you don't need a degree"..when they have to justify their bigotry.

Texans voted 3 to 1 for this measure, that is a sobering fact. Well, what do you expect from a state that has a town called White Settlement that refuses to change its name. The gay movement (what's ever left of it) need to figure out how to talk to people like black ministers and latino union organizers. I am always amazed how white gay leaders just don't understand why people of color won't join in the struggle. The Elizabeth Birches of the world need to make the connection. Oppression, is oppression, is oppression. How did Maine do it? They did it by calling it by it's name: Discrimination, plain and simple. The campaign in Maine, reframed the issue. Make the voters realize that they were being bigots by voting for the measure. The No Nonsense campaign was an utter failure. Where did the campaign say anything about it being about what it was, pure and simple homophobia. Instead, the campaign allowed the religious right frame the issue.

"That's where the victory was won, from the pulpits of the state of Texas," said state Rep. Warren Chisum, a Pampa Republican who wrote the amendment. "The people of Texas have spoken and they intend that marriage should be between one man and one woman."

The pulpits are our gallows, people, we need to wake up.

4 comments:

Lorena said...

it's a shame.
love is love is love.

Cuerpo Aztlan said...

So many things to work on, no?

Sucks that as a society there is a pretense of freedom and progress, but things are just easier to numb with ipods and vcr/dvd players I guess.

Abrazotes,

E

opal said...

You are so right! Why do we continually allow the bigots on the right to frame the debate? We play right into their hands whenever we do. Discrimination is discrimination, period. As far as making alliances with other movements, to be honest I don't think the local "gay rights movement" wants to recognize that there are other struggles. Ironically, it's the people in those other movements (like the folks at the Esperanza) who are fighting the good fight for everyone.

Anonymous said...

sad. it's a religious call that has no place in secular law.