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Texas, Their Texas
Nov. 8th, 2005 11:32 pmI left a little early from work, and made the drive to the polling place. In most of my experience voting, these places are usually manned by senior citizens and there might be one or two other people voting. I was surprised when the elementary school's parking lot was full at six o'clock at night and there was a line waiting to vote.
All we had to vote on in my precinct was the nine constitutional amendments to the Texas constitution. From the comments of some, I could tell that most of them the people voting hadn't even heard of. One was for land rights in two panhandle counties and another had to do with the board makeup for the bus authorities. It's amazing how poorly written the state constitution is where you have to put this stuff up to a vote.
As a few other of my fellow Texans have stated today, I think we all felt rather alone in our lines to the ballot box. In looking over my fellow citizens, I got the feeling that they were all going to be voting for Amendment 2, the marriage ban. If we're lucky, the amendment is so poorly written that it will be taken to court and proved to ban all marriages in Texas. My frustration says that it would be the just rewards for how the vote went today.
It's not surprising to see Texas vote as it does. It's a very conservative, church going state, and has been for a very long time. These are the people who have voted for Tom DeLay and will probably do so again. I guess it just disheartens me to see the state in this fashion. This is my home, and always has been, and to see the people of this state devalue my life, my rights, and those of my friends really hurts.
This morning at work, one of my coworkers, one that had told me that she was going to vote against amendment 2 came over to my desk and asked if I knew where to find her polling place. Before I could answer the gal who has been moved in front of me said, "Oh, I've got it! It's right here on the KSBJ website!" Both Melissa and I cringed, because KSBJ is the local "God Listens" station. I told Melissa that I'd find the Harris County Election site for her and send her the link. Still, i suddenly felt like the enemy was near. It's not that she's unfriendly, but that there's obviously a difference in dogma at work.
So how many people in that polling line were also sent there by the blathering of KSBJ's God Squad, or the local conservative radio crowd, or their church pastor? I'll never know, but I felt alone, and right now, seeing that the election results are looking like 76% for the ban, i truly feel like a loser.
I had to vote, I couldn't let the back of my head knowledge over the overwhelming odds stop me, but In a way I wonder what difference I really made. I guess there was some, for I did get back a couple of responses today to the email I sent to my friends over the weekend, telling me that they also voted against the proposition. They are part of the few, the proud, the 24%.
If Texas truly means "friends" what does it say when your friends vote against you? How can I work to get my friends to understand? How do I not feel like a sea of Texans are against me now?
Somehow I have to hope that this will change, and that these current biases, and this stupid argument will eventually drift away, maybe not in the next five or ten years, but maybe in my lifetime. More and more, there are people and groups out there taking a stand. It might not be marriage per se, but at least for tolerance and equality in other areas. Much has changed even in my lifetime so far.
I guess I just have to hope that sometime in the future, Texas will have it's head pulled out of it's ass. Hopefully it will have the independent spirit to do it itself, rather than having to have some George Wallace event to change it's course, but that's just that I'm hopeful that my "friends" will see the light.
At this moment though, It's looking rather dark, and I'm rather sad to be a Texan.
All we had to vote on in my precinct was the nine constitutional amendments to the Texas constitution. From the comments of some, I could tell that most of them the people voting hadn't even heard of. One was for land rights in two panhandle counties and another had to do with the board makeup for the bus authorities. It's amazing how poorly written the state constitution is where you have to put this stuff up to a vote.
As a few other of my fellow Texans have stated today, I think we all felt rather alone in our lines to the ballot box. In looking over my fellow citizens, I got the feeling that they were all going to be voting for Amendment 2, the marriage ban. If we're lucky, the amendment is so poorly written that it will be taken to court and proved to ban all marriages in Texas. My frustration says that it would be the just rewards for how the vote went today.
It's not surprising to see Texas vote as it does. It's a very conservative, church going state, and has been for a very long time. These are the people who have voted for Tom DeLay and will probably do so again. I guess it just disheartens me to see the state in this fashion. This is my home, and always has been, and to see the people of this state devalue my life, my rights, and those of my friends really hurts.
This morning at work, one of my coworkers, one that had told me that she was going to vote against amendment 2 came over to my desk and asked if I knew where to find her polling place. Before I could answer the gal who has been moved in front of me said, "Oh, I've got it! It's right here on the KSBJ website!" Both Melissa and I cringed, because KSBJ is the local "God Listens" station. I told Melissa that I'd find the Harris County Election site for her and send her the link. Still, i suddenly felt like the enemy was near. It's not that she's unfriendly, but that there's obviously a difference in dogma at work.
So how many people in that polling line were also sent there by the blathering of KSBJ's God Squad, or the local conservative radio crowd, or their church pastor? I'll never know, but I felt alone, and right now, seeing that the election results are looking like 76% for the ban, i truly feel like a loser.
I had to vote, I couldn't let the back of my head knowledge over the overwhelming odds stop me, but In a way I wonder what difference I really made. I guess there was some, for I did get back a couple of responses today to the email I sent to my friends over the weekend, telling me that they also voted against the proposition. They are part of the few, the proud, the 24%.
If Texas truly means "friends" what does it say when your friends vote against you? How can I work to get my friends to understand? How do I not feel like a sea of Texans are against me now?
Somehow I have to hope that this will change, and that these current biases, and this stupid argument will eventually drift away, maybe not in the next five or ten years, but maybe in my lifetime. More and more, there are people and groups out there taking a stand. It might not be marriage per se, but at least for tolerance and equality in other areas. Much has changed even in my lifetime so far.
I guess I just have to hope that sometime in the future, Texas will have it's head pulled out of it's ass. Hopefully it will have the independent spirit to do it itself, rather than having to have some George Wallace event to change it's course, but that's just that I'm hopeful that my "friends" will see the light.
At this moment though, It's looking rather dark, and I'm rather sad to be a Texan.
