http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 57_pf.html
washingtonpost.com
Texans Gear Up to Decide on homosexual Marriage
By KELLEY SHANNON
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 3, 2005; 8:00 AM
AUSTIN, Texas -- Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in Texas have a message for you: The proposition could mean trouble for marriage between a man and woman.
With telephone calls, e-mails and Internet postings, homosexual rights activists and others opposed to Proposition 2 are spreading that idea as part of their longshot battle to derail the measure in Tuesday's election.
The tactic has supporters of the same-sex marriage ban crying foul. It has opponents boasting that they may have a chance at defeating the measure _ in Texas, of all places, the conservative home state of President Bush.
"We are making a horse race out of it for the first time in any state," said Glen Maxey, an openly homosexual former legislator directing the opposition group No Nonsense in November. It argues the ban could interfere with all marriages.
Eighteen states have approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Massachusetts is the only state that has legalized it, while Vermont and Connecticut allow civil unions between same-sex couples.
In Texas, the latest round of recorded phone calls by opponents of the proposed ban on same-sex marriage led Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, whose comments were used in one, to issue a public statement Wednesday denouncing the calls as deceptive and false.
He said his comments were used out of context in the phone ad and that he has not taken a position on the proposed amendment because it might come before his court.
"As a judge, I cannot take a public position of any kind on the amendment, and I have not done so," said Hecht, a Republican who made news recently in defending former U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, an old friend.
The opponents' recorded calls use comments from Hecht and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to back up contentions that the amendment is poorly drafted and could interfere with common-law or traditional marriages.
Abbott, also a Republican, issued an opinion a week ago saying that the opponents' argument "is wholly without merit."
The calls contain an unidentified voice reading a statement Hecht made last month to an Austin American-Statesman reporter regarding Miers' nomination, Hecht said. That statement had nothing to do with the proposed same-sex marriage ban, he said.
Maxey, though, said the calls were not deceptive. "They tell people that the language is sloppy and ask them not to risk a judge using those words to ban marriage as we know it," Maxey said.
Opponents say state law already does not recognize same-sex marriage. They also point to the language of the proposed amendment prohibiting the state from "creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
That wording, they say, could be interpreted as invalidate man-woman marriage.
Charlotte Flynn, 86, a coordinator with Gray Panthers, a senior citizens group that opposes the homosexual marriage ban, said she and her husband don't want their marriage jeopardized by the faulty amendment wording and don't want discrimination against homosexuals.
"I am a Christian, and my belief is God loves everybody on this Earth," she said.
But amendment supporters say approving the constitutional amendment would prevent any judge from ever allowing same-sex marriage in the state and would show the value Texas places on heterosexual marriage.
"Marriage is the foundational structure of society," said Kelly Shackelford, a social conservative and a leader of the pro-amendment group Texans for Marriage.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry supports the measure and has spoken out on it several times, even holding a ceremonial signing of it over the summer at a church school.
"It's pretty simple for me. ... I'm a Christian, and this is about values," Perry said. "My beliefs are that a man and woman are what make up the meaning of marriage."
State Rep. Warren Chisum, a Republican who sponsored the proposed amendment, said he'll be satisfied after Tuesday's vote, no matter the outcome, because Texans will have had their say.
"Whatever it is," he said, "we can live with that."
On the Net:
Texans for Marriage: http://www.texansformarriage.org
No Nonsense in November: http://www.nononsenseinnovember.org
© 2005 The Associated Press
