I have been posting continuously about the November 8th election and early voting in Texas. We are doing everything in our power to stop Constitutional Amendment 2 from being passed. It is a hate amendment and is only being used to divide the state and promote bigotry.
(cross posted at MLW,Dkos,Austin Kos, Austin info, refinish69. Please feel free to copy and post anwhere it might help.)
Early voting returns, as of November 3rd, only show 4.10% of Texans voting out of 28 counties. This is unacceptable. Granted there is one county where 15.58% have voted. I wish I could say it was Travis County but it isn’t. It was Gray County. Travis has had 8.34%. We need everyone who is progressive, liberal, left or pissed off at The Ledge to get out and vote against this amendment. I want everyone who knows anyone in Texas to call, email, fax or instant message and beg them to get out and vote on November 8th.
The highest vote on an amendment on election is 12% in Texas. This is a hot issue and you can believe every bible-thumping minister will be preaching about it this Sunday. We have to counter their hate, intolerance and ignorance. I don’t care if you support legal gay marriage. Gay Marriage is not legal in Texas and it will take at least 30 or more years before it happens even if we defeat this amendment. This amendment also does away with civil unions, domestic partnerships, and may even outlaw common law marriage. I just want your vote against bigotry. I want your vote for equality. I want your vote for protecting The Texas Constitution’s bill of rights.
This is about so much more than Marriage. If this hate amendment passes, the next thing to happen will be the passing of laws to take away GLBT rights for adoption, foster care, and it will jeopardize domestic partner benefits being offered by the corporate world. It will make passing hate crime laws harder. It will make our lives more vulnerable to attacks. If we are labeled as second class citizens, do you really think the police, judges, or The Ledge will defend us?
If you want to make calls to people in Texas you can visit No Nonsense in November and sign up and make calls to any area in Texas. If they have already been called, their names will be out of the system. The script is there and it is a live system. Even 20 calls will help.
I am begging you to please call anyone you know in Texas and get them to the polls on November 8th. We have to win this battle. If we do, it could set the tone for 2006 and beyond. We can make history here folks but we need your help.