VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY

ELECTION 2005
Prop 2 battle down to wire
Grass-roots campaigns on both sides focus on same-sex marriage issue

By KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Advocates on both sides of a proposal to add a ban on same-sex marriage to the state constitution hit streets and churches Sunday, in the last weekend day of campaigning before Tuesday's election.


The measure, Proposition 2, is by far the most visible of nine proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. City of Houston offices and a number of others also are up for election Tuesday.

On Sunday, supporters and opponents of Proposition 2 continued what has been mostly a grass-roots, word-of-mouth campaign.

Pastor Garrett Booth at Grace Community Church in Clear Lake said he normally doesn't tell the congregation how to vote. But on Proposition 2 he made an exception, telling his parishioners to vote for the measure.

"It's necessary, important and needed for this to pass," he said. "It's important we do not sit idly by and let an extreme minority set aside what God has set in place. We are living in a day when the things that you and I hold precious are being redefined."

The proposition, Booth said, is not a political issue, but a moral one.

The amendment would define marriage as "the union of one man and one woman" and prohibit the state from "creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Opponents say it is unnecessary, in part because same-sex marriage is already illegal in Texas. Opponents also believe the amendment has potentially broad, unintended consequences, including permanently denying long-term couples — regardless of their gender — the rights, responsibilities and protections marriage automatically offers, including hospital visits and health benefits.

One organization opposing the amendment is called No Nonsense in November.

Ryan Goodland, a 20-year-old junior at Rice University and the No Nonsense campaign coordinator at the school, led a group of block-walkers in the West University Place area Sunday.

Within two hours, volunteers reached 114 voters, Goodland said — 83 people said they would vote against the amendment, 19 for it and 12 were on the fence.

Both sides think most people's minds are already made up on the issue.

Although turnout historically is light for constitutional amendment votes, Houston is expected to have disproportionate influence because of its population and because it is the only major city that holds municipal and school elections on the odd-year November Election Day when amendments typically go to the voters.

Both campaigns are relying largely on personal, get-out-the-vote efforts, but broader appeals picked up in the final week before the vote

Whatever your philosophy, whatever your party, vote tomorrow. Our forefathers left us a great legacy. That legacy is the right of citizens to self-govern. This Great Republic is only as strong as is its voter base. Voting is not only a right of every citizen, it is your obligation to your fellow citizens. If we forfeit our right to vote, we surrender our freedom. We decide to allow someone else to make decisions for us. Don't ignore your responsiblity. I'm not sure how I will vote on this issue, but I will inform myself enough to make that decision by tomorrow.

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