Faulty wording in a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage poses a bigger threat to "traditional" marriage than all the homosexuals in the world, opponents of Prop. 2 declared Monday, the first day of early voting.
A newly formed group, Save Texas Marriage – a blood relative of the No Nonsense in November campaign – has mounted a full-on attack on Prop. 2 that includes a massive rollout of automated calls to nearly two million homes across the state. In one call, the Rev. Tom Hegar, a Presbyterian minister, warns that because the second part of the proposed amendment, prohibiting the recognition of "any legal status identical or similar to marriage," fails to distinguish between same-sex couples and heterosexual couples, a "liberal activist judge" could see fit to void all marriages. "Don't risk it; vote against it," Hegar says, and ends with "God bless you."
"Sleazy," declared Kelly Shackelford, a Plano attorney who helped write the proposed amendment. "This is obviously an attempt to confuse and deceive people to vote against it." And he knows of at least a handful who already did. "They were just sick when they realized they voted the opposite of what they intended," said Shackelford, president of the conservative Free Market Foundation. Until yesterday, he added, the pro-amendment campaign had been moving along sluggishly. "I feel there is a dramatic difference now. This [new tactic] has angered and energized people to vote for the amendment. I'm hopeful that this will backfire on them."
Others argue that Save Texas Marriage is merely pointing out the confusion, not creating it. "Legislators did such a poor job drafting the amendment that all marriages in the state of Texas are at risk of being invalidated," said Trampes Crow, an Army captain, who appeared with his wife, Jennifer, and several other male-female couples at a press conference across from the Travis Co. courthouse, just a few hours into early voting. Austin community activist Martha Cotera took a dim view of Prop. 2 proponents eager to pass a ban outlawing what is already outlawed in Texas. "For God's sakes," she asked, "don't these people have lives?"
On a somewhat related note, the Ku Klux Klan will hold a rally Nov. 5 in front of City Hall to encourage voters to support Prop. 2.
