After the Vote: The road ahead

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"Legislators who supported Proposition 2 assured Texans that it would not make life harder for gay and lesbian citizens. Now comes the test. The editorial board respects the religious sensibilities of those who believe that the sacrament of marriage should be reserved for heterosexuals. But this amendment, with its nebulous prohibition against 'any legal status identical or similar to marriage,' encompasses far more. Those who apply the law must read it in the way legislators say it was intended -- and not as a license or a mandate to discriminate."

I don't recall any such assurance by the proponents of Proposition 2. How could there be any? The sweep of the amendment is far reaching. Now passed, it's a Constitutionally enshrined mandate to discriminate. What was the point of getting it on the ballot and passing it if the intent wasn't to enforce it? Wake up, DMN. Your opposition to the amendment was commendable. But pretending the amendment was just some harmless expression of conservative morality is silly. Although perhaps many who voted for it might have thought that's all they were saying, expect the conservative activists who spearheaded this proposition to now use it to deny gay and lesbian citizens of the State of Texas the privileges and benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy. That was the point of the amendment in the first place.