Texas Hates Fags

A rather stubborn case of strep throat is holding back sleep, so here I sit doing some middle of the night blogging. I looked up the results of today's voting and I'm shocked. I was certain Proposition 2 would pass, but the margin by which it did is appalling. Almost 9 to 1 here in Randall county. I thought there would be more opposition to it out of simple human decency if nothing else. Nope. Texas hates fags. Amarillo hates fags. The hatred is masked with cherry-picked Bible verses and flowery statements about protecting marriage, but make no mistake about it, Prop. 2 was nothing more than fag bashing.

Prop. 2 was both meaningless and profound. On one hand, gay marriage was already illegal. Making it really, really illegal doesn't change much. On the other hand, Texans have turned to a small group of their fellow citizens and stated, "You are a lesser person." Our gay and lesbian friends lost this one. We lost. But the defeat is not total. An anti-gay initiative in Maine failed. There are places in this country where you can be treated with a modicum of respect, if it means enough to you. Of course, just picking up and leaving isn't that easy. Not when your job is here. Your family. Your roots.

The wedge issue is off the table now, although another will undoubtedly take it's place. In the mean time dysfunctional families will persist. Marriages will still fail.