TFN ACTION ALERT AMENDMENT BLUNDER THREATENS ALL TEXAS MARRIAGES Today legal experts and clergy are warning voters that the proposed marriage amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot includes flawed language that could ANNUL ALL MARRIAGE in Texas. That’s right: Far-right lawmakers demanded a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and then approved flawed amendment wording that could end ALL marriages in the state. The language of the proposed marriage amendment reads as follows: 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. Without the word “other” before “legal status identical or similar to marriage” – a qualifier included in marriage amendments around the country – Section (b) actually prohibits all marriage, including marriages defined in the Section (a)! This blunder by far-right lawmakers could leave all marriages in this state vulnerable to challenges in court if Proposition 2 passes on the Nov. 8 ballot. Far-right lawmakers this year failed miserably on issues that working Texas families really care about, like fixing the way Texas pays for its schools and restoring full funding to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Now we know that they have even failed to protect marriage in our state. TAKE ACTION · Protect marriage and all Texas families by voting “NO” on Nov. 8. Early voting begins today! · Write a letter to your local newspaper to warn readers about the flawed amendment and its threat to all Texas marriages.The Texas Freedom Network is absolutely right about this. I pointed out as much in May, three days after the thing passed the Senate. Proposition 2 in Texas is the most anti-family law that any state has ever attempted to pass in the history of the United States of America. People who care about family should stop at nothing to defeat it.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Texas Bans Marriage: You read it here first!
Today the Texas Freedom Network emailed its subscribers the following "Action Alert":
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As I said when you first mentioned this, the most plausible way to read this is clearly not taking 'identical' to mean strict identity but to mean "exactly similar but distinct from". Strict constructionists, of course, can't go with the most plausible meaning, but anyone else, including originalists about the ordinary meaning of it, shouldn't require the consequence you're drawing.
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