Burnt Orange Report

HJR 6 Lives Again

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

WHAT: Senate State Affairs Committee hearing to receive public testimony on House Joint Resolution 6, the anti-gay Texas Marriage Amendment. This is the only occassion where public testimony is invited by the Texas Senate. The Senate suspended all normal notification rules and posted the hearing on Saturday night in an attempt to catch the LGBT community off guard.

WHO: The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs
WHERE: The Texas Senate Chamber, room 2E.8. This is the Senate Floor.
WHEN: Monday, May 16, at 8:30am. The hearing will run until the full Senate convenes at 11:00am. The hearing may resume after the full Senate completes its business for the day.

1. Come to the Senate Chamber at 8:30am Monday and Sign a Witness Affirmation Form. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for Austinites not to come to the Capitol and fill out a Witness Affirmation Form against HJR 6. It's incredibly powerful and it takes 5 minutes to fill out.

2. You can show up at the hearing on Monday morning to sign in against this devisive amendment- Texas Senate Chamber, room 2E.8 starting at 8:30 AM.

3. Fax the Senate using this feature here.

4. Call the members of the Senate State Affiars Committee now and leave a message. Sen. Todd Staples is the Senate Sponsor.

Sen. Duncan, Robert (R-28) (Chair)
3E.12 Capitol Building
512-463-0128 or 800-322-9538

Sen. Williams, Thomas (R-4) (Vice Chair)
GE.7 Capitol Building
512-463-0104

Sen. Armbrister, Kenneth (D-18)
1E.14 Capitol Building
512-463-0118

Sen. Ellis, Rodney (D-13)
3E.6 Capitol Building
512-463-0113

Sen. Fraser, Troy (R-24)
1E.15 Capitol Building
512-463-0124

Sen. Harris, Chris (R-9)
3S.5 Capitol Building
512-463-0109

Sen. Jackson, Mike (R-11)
E1.806 Capitol Extension
512-463-0111

Sen. Lucio, Eduardo (D-27)
1E.5 Capitol Building
512-463-0127 / 1-800-394-0127

Sen. Madla, Frank (D-19)
E1.610 Capitol Extension
512-463-0119

This information was forwarded to me, if you have updates or corrections please leave a comment.

Quick Facts

The Texas Marriage Amendment hurts Texas families. It would deny thousands of families access to healthcare, fair inheritance and survivor rights, and the ability to make life-saving medical decisions for loved ones.

Our Constitution should be used to protect people, not hurt them. But that is just what the Texas Marriage Amendment would do. Our Constitution is for protecting our most basic and important rights. It should never be used to settle partisan, religious or ideological disputes. There is no question that many Texans disagree about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but those disagreements do not belong in our Constitution.

Changing the Constitution is never simple. There are over 1000 protections, rights and responsibilities that go along with civil marriage. Many, like immigration rights and veterans death benefits, cannot be covered by contracts or legal planning. The Texas Marriage Amendment would permanently deny access to each of these family protections to gay and lesbian couples and their families.

This bill DOES NOT "reinforce" heterosexual marriages. The typical reason legislators give for supporting this legislation is that it reinforces traditional marriages. However, they have provided no reasoning to support the idea that barring same-sex marriages in any way contributes positively to heterosexual marriages, or that recognition of same-sex marriages threatens existing opposite-sex marriages. It seems the real motivation behind such legislation is homophobia.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS(FAQ)

Q: I don't support gay marriage/ Marriage is between man & woman/ I'm not sure about gay marriage.
A: Many people have just begun to think about how they feel about the issue of marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but changing the Constitution is not the way to settle the debate over marriage, particularly when it means real people would get hurt. We may disagree or be unsure about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but we can all agree that our Constitution is no place for unequal treatment for one group of our citizens. You do not have to approve of marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples to vote no.

Q: Will my church have to perform gay weddings if the Texas Marriage Amendment is defeated?
A: As Americans, we believe in the separation of church and state. No church or religion has ever been required to perform a ceremony or sacrament outside its tradition. Every faith has different standards for who they will marry, and a No vote will not change this in any way.

Q: If we don't draw the line now, where and when will we draw it? What will we allow next?
A: A No vote does not change marriage in Texas. Marriage will remain a committed relationship between two unrelated, otherwise-unmarried adults, who agree to share love, commitment and responsibility.

Q: I think we should leave marriage alone and just push for civil unions.
A: Civil unions, even at their best, do not provide the same protections as marriage. And we can't assume the Legislature will ever pass civil unions. If you support extending any rights to gay and lesbian couples, you should know that this amendment could foreclose any future hope for civil unions too. We shouldn't put unequal treatment of gays and lesbians into our Constitution, especially without any assurance that their rights will be protected by future legislation.

Q: Can't gays and lesbians get everything they need from legal contracts?
A: No. There is no truth to the claim that gay and lesbian Texans can get all of the benefits and protections of marriage from contracts. There are some cases when legal contracts have been effective at protecting families in times of crisis, but even the most ironclad documents don't work in every case. Gay and lesbian Texans should not be treated unequally by having to seek out costly and complicated legal protections for their families.

Q: Gay people can't marry in Texas now, so if this passes it doesn't really change anything right?
A: A Yes vote on the Texas Marriage Amendment does change the Texas Constitution-both the letter of the Constitution and the spirit of the Constitution-to say that it is OK to treat gay and lesbian Texans unequally. That is a marked departure from the way our Constitution is now. Voting yes does nothing to protect families or marriage in Texas. What it does do is hurt real Texas families by denying gay and lesbian Texans access to important family protections like health care, inheritance rights and the ability to make life-saving medical decisions.

Q: Don't we need to put this in the Constitution to prevent activist judges from making gay marriage legal?
A: Changing the Constitution to treat Texans unequally isn't the best way to resolve the debate on this issue. When an issue divides Texans, as this one does, it's better to take the time to examine all the consequences, rather than act rashly in a way that hurts people. Voting No on the Texas Marriage Amendment will not make marriage for gay and lesbian couples legal, it will only keep unequal treatment out of the Constitution.