For Joe Cline, it’s crucial that voters approve a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage.
“I strongly feel that marriage is between one man and one woman,” he said.
And making that definition a part of the state constitution, he said, would end the debate.
“Lock it in,” he said. “Settle the issue.”
David Pyle stands on the other side of the debate. He believes passing a marriage amendment would be a step in exactly the wrong direction.
“Where other states are moving forward to provide more legal recognition for same-sex couples and protection for different kinds of families, the state of Texas is seeking to take those rights away and to limit what makes up a family,” Pyle said during a recent program on the proposed amendment.
Of course, for Cline, limiting the definition of a family is precisely the point.
“Recently in the Netherlands, they had a marriage involving two women and one man,” he said. “Even though people might laugh and call that ridiculous, you will have it proliferate.”
Cline, the director of Lighthouse Freedom Ministry in Galveston, set off a local controversy this year when he bought billboards promoting a conference sponsored by the organization Focus on the Family. The one-day conference, called “Love Won Out,” drew 900 people to listen to programs seeking to deliver the message that homosexuality is both preventable and treatable.
Critics called that message hateful and dangerous. It flies in the face, they say, of scientific evidence that homosexuality is not about choices but genetics.
Pyle, the administrator of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Galveston County, was among the protesters.
Now, the fellowship is displaying yard signs distributed by the group No Nonsense in November, which argues that the proposed amendment isn’t necessary.
“Civil marriages between same-sex couples are already prohibited in Texas,” the group says on its Web site, “and civil marriages and civil unions from other states or other countries are not recognized in Texas.”
Cline says a mere statutory prohibition isn’t enough. The state needs a constitutional amendment, he says, to assure that judges don’t insert themselves into the debate.
“We’ve seen where courts are not representing the people,” he said. “Congress supersedes the Supreme Court, but so far, they have been so weak-kneed that we can’t rely on them to protect us.”
Amending the constitution, he said, protects the prohibition against likely legal challenges.
“It lets Texans decide instead of letting courts decide,” he said.
If the state does not define marriage, Cline said, anything could happen.
“You could have people marry their cat or their dog,” he said.
Also among supporters of the amendment is the Galveston County Republican Party.
“We are definitely whole-heartedly supporting Proposition 2,” said Chris Stevens, the county chairman.
He said the party likely would buy some advertising and organize get-out-the-vote efforts in support of the amendment.
“I can’t speak for every Republican,” he said, “but just about every Republican I know of is very excited about it.”
Lloyd Criss, the county’s Democratic Party chairman, said his party had taken no position on the amendment.
“I’m personally going to vote against it,” he said.
The law already prohibits same-sex marriages, he said, and the language of the amendment is flawed.
“I’d urge anyone who votes on the amendment to read it carefully,” he said. “I’ve talked to lawyers around the state who say it might have an impact on all marriages.”
In addition, he said, the amendment runs counter to the intent of the state’s bill of rights.
“The bill of rights is there to protect all citizens,” he said. “It shouldn’t include language that will discriminate against anybody.”
For Pyle, this issue is not really about gay or straight, Republican or Democrat.
“It is not even about government intrusion or social libertarianism,” he said. “No, this issue is about defining what constitutes a family.”
Pyle believes the amendment will have negative effects not just for gay and lesbian couples but even for heterosexuals.
“My partner and I are not married,” he said. “The reasons for this are varied, but until now, the strength and duration of our relationship gave us some, if not all, of the civil rights and privileges of those couples who have formalized their union in accordance with Texas law.”
Unmarried partners have the right to visit each other in the hospital, and they are protected under the state’s domestic violence laws.
“I am listed as her beneficiary, and she mine,” Pyle said. “I am her emergency contact, and her power of attorney, and she mine. If we had a child, that child could still know both of us as its legal parents, even if we were not officially married.”
But Pyle believes all of that and more might be called into question by the marriage amendment.
“In essence, it would force us to conform to what their view of a family is,” he said. “I am a he, and she is a she. We are a heterosexual couple and longtime partners in life, and yet, this amendment, if passed, forces someone else’s view of what makes a family upon us. We view ourselves as a family, but the state of Texas no longer will.”
Stevens rejects that argument.
“I think it’s mostly a smoke screen,” he said.
He said the amendment should have no effect on domestic partnerships and common-law marriages.
“What this does is reinforce the structure we have in place now,” he said.
The message of the No Nonsense in November campaign is that families come in all shapes and sizes. There are families with a mother and father, Pyle said, but there are also families with two moms or two dads. And they’re all built on the same foundation.
“Each of these families loves and cares for one another,” he said.
The proposition is one of nine on the Nov. 8 election ballot. Early voting starts Monday at locations throughout the county.
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Election Information
Early voting begins Monday on nine proposed constitutional amendments. Voters can cast ballots from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 2 and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 3 and 4 at the following locations:
• Galveston County clerk’s office, 722 21st St., Galveston. • Bacliff Community Center, 4503 11th St., Bacliff. • West County Building, 11730 state Highway 6, Santa Fe. • Nessler Center, 2010 Fifth Ave. N., Texas City. • League City County Annex (front entrance), 174 Calder Road, League City. • Friendswood City Hall, 910 S. Friendswood, Friendswood. • Park Avenue Community Center, 6901 Park Ave., Texas City.
Election day is Nov. 8.
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Amendment 2
The constitutional amendment providing that marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting this state or a political subdivision of this state from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.
