DOMA SOMA
You say, “homophobic discrimination” like it’s a bad thing

In the Republicans’ ongoing battle to abolish civil rights, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law what's being called the Defense of Marriage Act.

But doesn’t Texas already have a law prohibiting a same-sex couple from being married in Texas? Yes, but it didn’t prohibit a same-sex marriage performed outside of Texas from being recognized by Texas. In other words, if a same-sex couple is married in another state, Texas may be forced to recognize that union as a legitimate and legal marriage here as well.

This legislation takes the fact that Texas does not allow same sex marriages one step further. It says Texas does not recognize any gay or lesbian union or marriage from any other state.

In support of DOMA, members of the Constitution Party of Texas brandished signs in public that read “No Homo Marriage.” One of the group’s leaders told a newspaper that homosexuality should be illegal, and based upon Biblical beliefs, ultimately punishable by death.
Well, we know punishing homosexuals by death would be extremely hard in today’s society, but we hope that we can help to drive it underground so in about twenty or thirty years, the punishment can fit the crime.

"The point of the bill is to protect and defend the institution of marriage in the traditional sense we always have in the state of Texas, and that's between one man and one woman," said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, sponsor of Senate Bill 7.
"People talked about discrimination as though discrimination is a bad thing. It is something we do all the time," he said.

?!


"I've never made any statement that this bill did not discriminate," said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, who authored the bill. "This bill does discriminate. It allows only for a man and a woman to be married in this state and be recognized in marriage in this state," he said. "This bill does discriminate against any other kind of marriage."

So, what if gay couples living in Texas accept the implication that they simply can’t be married in Texas? Well, the state has taken care of that, too.


U.S. Supreme Court case: Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
The state argued that Texas law must stand in order to protect marriage, something that's especially important because Texas is a community property state. Less unsure, Sen. Santorum told the Associated Press exactly what all this means: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."

Concerned Women for America are worried that decriminalization of same-sex behavior will lead to equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. If it violates equal protection to prohibit same-sex sodomy, the next case will argue that it violates equal protection to prohibit same-sex marriage."

Although Texas is an at-will state - meaning either employer or employee may terminate employment with or without cause - employees are protected against termination for sex, race or national origin. One can, however, be terminated for being gay. Texas went out of its way to deny homosexuals equal protection from such discrimination.

In a related story
The Houston school district and Houston police are investigating a report in which a Westbury High School student said a teacher's aide assaulted him, eventually breaking his arm, because he is gay. Republicans defended the act as a moral defense of the institution of marriage.