Antone's Nightclub
Prop. 2 a Personal Issue
RECEIVED Wed., Nov. 9, 2005
Dear Editor,
Unlike the vast majority of the 75% of Texans who voted for Proposition 2, this issue actually affects me personally. I don't imagine many of these folks bothered putting themselves in my shoes, or the shoes of the hundreds of thousands of other gay men and women in this state. No, instead they listened to their pastors or they read their two-millennia-old Bibles, or they just figured the idea was icky, so why not make it even more illegal than it already was.
I drove up to the Great Hills Baptist Church for the pro-amendment crowd's celebration that included Rep. Chisum. I didn't go all the way in, but I found almost exactly what I expected: a parking lot full of large, expensive SUVs and a church lobby full of well-dressed, aging white people. My implication is not that the only folks who voted for this amendment are out-of-touch old people, just most of them. To that crowd, I must say:
This was not a personal issue for all of you. You may have gay family members or friends, but at the end of the day you and your kind can enjoy all the legal and societal benefits of marriage, while even civil unions are now impossible for me.
This is a personal issue and it hurts immensely. To put it simply: What you believe is wrong. Gay people are normal, are made that way, and will always be around. You can't make us go away, and you can't legislate us out of existence. And, for the record, deliberate and discriminatory acts such as this will only make us angrier and stronger.
Ultimately, though, my true solace is in the fact that you people are getting old. Eventually, you'll be gone.
I can wait.
Unlike the vast majority of the 75% of Texans who voted for Proposition 2, this issue actually affects me personally. I don't imagine many of these folks bothered putting themselves in my shoes, or the shoes of the hundreds of thousands of other gay men and women in this state. No, instead they listened to their pastors or they read their two-millennia-old Bibles, or they just figured the idea was icky, so why not make it even more illegal than it already was.
I drove up to the Great Hills Baptist Church for the pro-amendment crowd's celebration that included Rep. Chisum. I didn't go all the way in, but I found almost exactly what I expected: a parking lot full of large, expensive SUVs and a church lobby full of well-dressed, aging white people. My implication is not that the only folks who voted for this amendment are out-of-touch old people, just most of them. To that crowd, I must say:
This was not a personal issue for all of you. You may have gay family members or friends, but at the end of the day you and your kind can enjoy all the legal and societal benefits of marriage, while even civil unions are now impossible for me.
This is a personal issue and it hurts immensely. To put it simply: What you believe is wrong. Gay people are normal, are made that way, and will always be around. You can't make us go away, and you can't legislate us out of existence. And, for the record, deliberate and discriminatory acts such as this will only make us angrier and stronger.
Ultimately, though, my true solace is in the fact that you people are getting old. Eventually, you'll be gone.
I can wait.
Matt Hoggle