Once More Texans Clearly State, Gay "Right" Not Civil Rights

Gay marriage ban crossed political lines, analysts say

By POLLY ROSS HUGHES and R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Blacks and Hispanics who traditionally vote Democratic strongly backed the state's gay marriage ban at the ballot box this week, sometimes outpolling Republicans, analysts said Wednesday.


That broad interest across political lines contributed to the highest participation in a constitutional amendment election since 1991, with roughly 18 percent of registered voters turning out for Tuesday's election.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry rallied his evangelical, socially conservative base on the issue, but political analysts said Proposition 2's success doesn't necessarily predict future success for individual politicians.

"I don't see how it can be useful for a party or a candidate because this so transcends all the political parties and the typical categorizations," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the conservative Free Market Foundation, which backed the amendment.

"We didn't even call Republican homes. We called Hispanics, African-Americans and rural Texas voters. That's where the numbers were," he said.

Others agreed, noting that religion and family values resonate in traditionally Democratic precincts with large minority populations.

On the single issue of defining marriage as between a man and a woman, minorities often voted as favorably and sometimes more favorably than higher-income Republican precincts, said political scientist Tim O'Neill at Southwestern University in Georgetown.

"They don't see it as much as a civil rights issue as they see it as a right of traditional marriage issue," he said. "African-Americans are by far the strongest supporters of the Democratic Party, but not on this issue. This is not a Republican/Democratic issue per se."

Statewide the marriage amendment won 76 percent of the vote.

Big approval on the border
Along the heavily Democratic, Hispanic and economically distressed border with Mexico, it passed by 81 percent in Hidalgo County, 75 percent in Webb County and 86 percent in Jim Hogg County.

Republican and suburban Fort Bend County backed Proposition 2 by 82 percent while Republican and upper-middle class Collin County in North Texas voted 74 percent in its favor.

Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, said churches and pastors statewide made a significant push on the gay marriage issue.

Clergy participated in "marriage protection Sunday" and spoke of the importance of marriage and its biblical roots, he said. Others ran a 30-second television ad featuring the touching hands of a man, woman and baby.

"That message was probably stronger ... in the minority church community than in the Anglo church community," he said. "Many were more active and more visible in coming out on the issue than many were in the suburbs."

Harris County favored the marriage amendment by 72 percent overall, but that proved slightly higher in the inner city black neighborhoods, several analysts noted.

Rice University political scientist Bob Stein said the measure won easily in the Houston area because of black support.

"In black boxes, it was 75 percent to 25 percent in favor of Prop 2," Stein said. "That's explained by heavy black turnout by African-American women who go to church."

Former state Democratic Rep. Glen Maxey of Austin, who led opponents of the amendment statewide, said minority sympathies on the issue were reflected in a Houston poll conducted last August by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Another blow to the Liberal agenda. Americans do not see gays and lesbians as a separate minority group entitled to the same protections as race and religion. This is as it should be. Any private issue should remain private. I am not anti-gay, I know and love a number of gay and lesbian individuals, just as I know and love a number of straight people. I just do not advocate the singling out of any group for special consideration. I also value the societal and cultural norms of this society. Sorry folks. Live your lives in privacy. I do mine.

Full Story: Prop 2

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