ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN?

As the Nov. 8 election nears, supporters of a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage in Texas are not assuming victory.

“Last week we spoke to a group of retired teachers, who were a pretty savvy group,” state Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa), the amendment’s author, told the TEXAN. “Some of them didn’t know there was an election, much less anything about the significance of Proposition 2 being (on the ballot). I’m afraid at this point we don’t have the word out adequately.”

Chisum filed the amendment in the Texas House before the 2005 session and the Senate last May voted 21-8 to place Proposition 2 before voters along with eight other proposed amendments. Eighteen Senate Republicans and three Democrats supported the measure.

Proposition 2 reads: “Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Traditionally, off-year referendum elections draw less than 10 percent of registered voters, which Chisum said could help homosexual marriage supporters. “The fear I have is that is that the other side of this issue is highly motivated to defeat this,” Chisum said.

Attorney Hiram Sasser of the conservative Free Market Foundation based in Plano, an affiliate of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family organization, has been helping inform pastors of their legal rights regarding non-partisan political activity.

The Free Market Foundation has assisted pro-amendment groups such as the Texas Restoration Project, led by Houston pastor Laurence White, the Texas Marriage Alliance, Not On My Watch campaign, led by Southern Baptist pastor Dwight McKissic, and For This Cause, a group of East Texas pastors.

Meanwhile, the Austin-based “No Nonsense Campaign” is leading opposition to Proposition 2, with help from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and a long list of Texas supporters, including the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP homosexual group, and the Democratic Party of Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties in North Texas.

“I talked to somebody at church just last Sunday. I asked them what they thought about it and they didn’t know there was a vote going on,” Sasser said. “We’ve got a long ways to go to make everybody informed that there’s going to be a vote Nov. 8 to decide whether or not God’s definition of marriage will stand in Texas or whether we are going to allow same-sex marriages.”

Free Market Foundation President Kelly Shackelford, with counsel from civil liberties attorney Jay Sekulow, helped Chisum add language to the amendment that prohibits legal recognition of civil unions, Chisum told the TEXAN.

As Proposition 2 supporters have attempted to rally Christian pastors to support the amendment, opponents have charged among other things that the amendment’s language would invalidate common law marriages and some Texas cities’ domestic partner benefits.

Glen Maxey of the No Nonsense Campaign, the only openly homosexual legislator when he served in the Texas House, told the alternative news weekly the Austin Chronicle: “Texas is absolutely the best positioned state to win this election. ? And if we win, it will change for all time the gay and lesbian movement. It will change the national debate.”

In a phone interview, Maxey told the TEXAN that because Texas already has a defense of marriage law on the books, “Nothing really changes (if Prop 2 passes) except the unintended consequences that will come out of the second half of the amendment designed to prevent civil unions.”

The Free Market Foundation’s Sasser said Maxey’s charge is a groundless attempt to shift the debate. “One of the findings (of the Texas legislature) is that this will have no effect on domestic partner arrangements,” Sasser said. “And the common law charge is a red herring. It’s a smokescreen for the real issue, which is whether or not we are going to have same-sex marriages. Common law marriage is going to be totally unaffected by this.”

Chisum said if large religious groups such as Baptists and Catholics vote Nov. 8, Proposition 2 will pass overwhelmingly.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards told the TEXAN in September: “Our Christian values have come under assault by the secular culture for almost 40 years. The current battlefront is same-sex marriage. Texans have an opportunity to speak loudly for the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.”

The Catholic Bishops of Texas released a statement Sept. 29 supporting Proposition 2.

“Marriage did not originate from either the Church or state, but from God. Therefore, we believe neither Church nor state has the right to alter the nature and structure of marriage. What God has joined together let no one put asunder,” the statement reads.

Chisum said his motivation in introducing the amendment was the potential societal damage if traditional marriage is undermined by alternative definitions. He cited a case in the Netherlands, where last month a man and two bisexual women were joined in a civil union, the Brussels Journal reported.

“That’s just an indication of the deterioration,” he said.

The Free Market Foundation has voter guides available at freemarket.org.

“We wrote the voter guides in a way that’s objective: it gives you the pros and cons of both sides,” Sasser said. “And we did it that way so churches could feel comfortable passing these out to all members of the congregation and not worry about any issues with 501c3.”