Posted on 09/05/2003 8:37:16 AM PDT by No Dems 2004
Seventy percent of Texans believe homosexuality is morally wrong and a majority support amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, according to the Scripps Howard Texas Poll.
Seventeen percent of Texans dont think homosexuality is morally wrong and 13 percent dont know. Opinions on the morality of homosexuality remain virtually unchanged from 1999.
"When you talk about morality, the church comes into effect," said Randall Ellis, executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas. "I think because Texas is in the Bible Belt that is reflected in that response. Churches have taken an anti-gay stance."
Issues facing gays and lesbians have been at the forefront of policy discussions everywhere, from statehouses to the White House.
President George W. Bush and some members of Congress support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Fifty-four percent of Texans favor such an amendment, 36 percent oppose and 10 percent dont know.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas held a hearing in Washington Thursday on the U.S. constitutional amendment, which is called the Defense of Marriage Act.
"I believe we must do whatever it takes to safeguard the institution of marriage and ensure that the principles defined in DOMA remain the law of the land," Cornyn said. "This hearing will remind people why traditional marriage is so important for a healthy society, and will determine the extent of the threat posed to DOMA by judicial activism in light of recent court decisions and pending cases."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an anti-sodomy law in Texas making it legal for two consenting adults of the same gender to have sex.
Fifty-six percent of Texans disagree with the ruling and 32 percent support it. Twelve percent dont know.
"I think what you are looking at here in Texas is there is a stigma associated with same sex relations with (the sodomy law)," Ellis said. "As we move further away from the Supreme Court decision, and that sexual relationships are not against the law, peoples opinions will change."
But others disagree and Texas lawmakers recently passed a law that prohibits the state from recognizing gay marriage or civil unions granted anywhere.
Sixty-three percent of Texans support Texas prohibiting recognition of gay marriage and 28 percent oppose. Sixty percent of Texans oppose a law allowing gay couples to have civil unions giving them the same legal rights as married couples. Thirty percent support civil unions and 10 percent dont know.
"Its clear a majority of Texans and Americans agree with what the Legislature did this session," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, who wrote the law prohibiting the state from recognizing gay civil unions or marriage. "None of the states recognize gay marriage and 49 states other than Vermont dont recognize civil unions."
While Wentworth wouldnt give his own opinion regarding amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, he said he didnt think the amendment would pass anytime soon.
"I dont think Americans want to amend their constitution much about anything," Wentworth said. "The pro-lifers have been trying for 40 years for a pro-life amendment and its gone nowhere. I think (banning gay marriage) will go the same course." While both a majority of men and women oppose gay civil unions or marriage and think homosexual behavior is morally wrong, men are more strongly opposed to gay issues than women. For example, 66 percent of men oppose a law allowing gay couples to form civil unions, compared with 54 percent of women who oppose.
Texans between the ages of 18 and 39 tend to be much more split on gay issues than Texans in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Forty-nine percent of 18 to 29-year-olds and 48 percent of 30 to 39-year-olds oppose the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the sodomy law. Thats compared with 64 percent of Texans older than 60 who oppose the decision.
And 56 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds oppose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage, while all other age groups support a ban.
The Texas Poll was conducted Aug. 7-21 by the Scripps Research Center. The poll surveyed 1,000 adult Texans by telephone in a random sample of active telephone exchanges statewide. Margin of error for whole sample is plus or minus 3 percent.
The summary of the above article is as follows:
-Texans regard homosexuality as morally wrong by a margin of 70%-17%
-Texans oppose gay marriage by a margin of 63%-28%
-Texans oppose civil unions by a margin of 60%-30%
-Texans oppose the USSC decision on striking down the TX sodomy law by a margin of 56%-32%
-Texans want the Federal Marriage Amendment (to the US Constitution) by a margin of 54%-36%
Considering that many analysts and pundits agree that polling often understates anti-gay sentiment, the situation could be even worse for gays.
Sounds like Howard Dean might need to find a new line of work?
Make that "Churches have taken a pro-scripture stance."
The nine Dim prez candidates will start in Dallas, travel to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, back to Houston and down to Brownsville on the border. They'll proceed up to Del Rio, on to El Paso then to Midland, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo. They turn back east to Abilene, Fort Worth and Dallas.
Each person will be driving a pink Volvo with a bumper sticker that reads: "I'm gay. I'm a vegetarian. I voted for Al Gore. I love the Dixie Chicks. Your BBQ sucks, and the Alamo was a waste of time. I want Hillary in 2004, and I'm here to confiscate your guns!"
The contestant that makes it back to Dallas, alive, wins.
Amen to that!
First of all sex can only take place when both genders are in contact with each other. That is what defines sex and gender. Repoduction can only occur with sex. Other than that other physical acts are either foreplay with another gender, individual masturbation, or sodomy with the same gender. Most people still ask what sex they are and not what gender. It is true on most private sector and public forms for identification. Sex implies the capability for reproduction of which no same gender contact is capable of. We have now let the courts swallow the rhetoric of the gay agenda to change the definition of what sex is and isn't, just as the media let Clinton define what the meaning of "is" is and is not.
If this SCOTUS ruling stands than why are state prostitution laws legal? If the SCOTUS says that the State can not tell a man that it is illegal and improper for him to stick his penus in another mans anus, than why shouldn't he be able to stick it where it was made to go in a women in exchange for money? If a state can not restrict what a man does with his repoductive anatomy than as Senator Rick Santorum indicated why would state laws against penial contact with prostitutes, cows, dogs, goats, sheep, children, trees, dead people, etc.. stand the scrutiny of the SCOTUS logic? Is the Supreme Court now on its own without regard to the constitution now defining what amounts to the limits of a moral code? Does the court define to every state what is moraly acceptable and not? Has the world and this court now become so corrupt that common sense and basic laws of God and nature are ignored? The world is insane and this court ruling has convinced me that hell will soon freeze over and it will require Jesus return to rule with a rod of iron to restore things back into order before we destroy ourselves.
No, it would not. But for the Federal government to step in and tell the states what they can and cannot define as marriage is a violation of Federalism. Someone can be conservative without being a fundamental Christian/Jew/Moslem. There have been a number of conservatives who are finding a conflict in telling the states what they can define as "marriage", as well as in the concept that one state can tell another state what a marriage is. This fixes that.
Then why the heck tell us that you are one? And no, you aren't 'in love' with another woman - you are simply hiding from men because they terrify you.
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