How likely is it that the legistation proposed by the Texas GOP Platform would actually be passed?
I’ve been reading a lot about the legislation being proposed by the Texas GOP platform – outlawing sodomy, making gay marriage punishable by jail time, and taking children away from gay couples.
Now, I am a lesbian woman with a biological 8 month old daughter who lives with me and my life partner. I lived in Texas a few years ago, and I was planning on moving back after I finished college. I think this article has permanently changed my mind about that. I mean, forgive me for sounding like a depressed teenager, but things like this really, honestly hit me deep – if I didn’t have a child and wonderful partner to live for, stuff like this would really push me towards suicide. Even though I am happy with my life right now, I have to take a break from reading stuff like that because it really makes me lose faith in humanity and the world. It makes me want to stop watching the news and keeping up with politics all together – the only thing that stops me from doing that is thinking of all the children who would be ripped from their loving but homosexual parents and placed into foster homes where they could likely be raped and abused by straight couples.
My question is, how likely is it that something like this could actually pass? Are people past this ignorant bigotry enough to know better, or are there actually enough people out there who oppose homosexuality for this bill to pass and families to be ripped apart?
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I wish I was in a position to tell you that there are not so many rabid homophobes in Texas to allow such proposed legislation to garner sufficient support.
From what impression I have formed about the state over the years, I would be very concerned for homosexual couples, especially those with children.
As far as social awareness and tolerance, Texas seems to still be in the late 19th century.
I can’t say for other areas, but I don’t think it would stand a chance in the Austin area. I don’t know enough about the other metropolitan areas to even make a guess. I would hope, though, that the people in the vast wastelands between the cities wouldn’t know how to vote.
I hate people sometimes. I’m sorry.
Well, considering the way Texas is, I would say that it has a shockingly good chance at passing. In fact, I am surprised that such a law isn’t already on the books down there; other states in the region have (or at least had) similar laws.
Unfortunately, Texas IS that ignorant and intolerant. There may be individual Texans that are more enlightened (I know of at least one right here on Fluther), but as a collective whole, Texas is a haven for that sort of thing.
As a gay father who formerly lived in Texas, I can say that I don’t ever want to live there again. There are pockets of acceptance, but this GOP platform is so extreme that it defies credibility. And it represents the governing party of the state.
As far as it becoming law, the chance is slim to none. The platform before this one was just as extreme, and it didn’t become law either.
What really piques my curiosity is if all the homosexuals left Texas, who would be left to do all those big hair-dos that Texas women are so fond of?
The platform might pass, but some (hopefully most) of the laws wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving a court challenge. Lawrence v. Texas was the Supreme Court case that addressed a previous anti-sodomy law of Texas’s, and the Court ruled that intimate, consensual sexual contact was a protected liberty interest. (“The Texas statute furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual.”)
You’d think the GOP would know better than to try that one again…
They may very well pass this, but since the Supreme Court has already ruled on this matter, the law is unenforceable. Anyone attempting to enforce it would be courting trouble with the Feds (which is what the Texas GOP wants). Somebody is likely to get their life ruined in a test case.
I share @jerv s opinion of Texas, having served three years at Ft. Hood (seemed like a prison sentence).
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