Proposition 2 has passed in the state of Texas.  As I originally predicted, it was successful by a wide margin.  Despite the fact that Texas law already prohibited gay marriage, radical elements in the conservative right felt it would be best to amend the state constitution to approximate spitting the face of gays throughout Texas.

While I firmly believe that all such laws and state amendments will eventually fall before social progress and the return of America to more humane control, that effort will take time, to be measured in years — if not decades.  In the meantime, Texas becomes yet another state to embed discrimination and bigotry into state law and the state constitution.  It's disturbing and disappointing, but it's not surprising.

What is surprising is that the Texas amendment is worded so broadly that it creates a significant burden on heterosexual marriage.  Lawmakers and conservatives will argue that this is in fact not true and that the state judiciary will have no problems interpreting the spirit of the law, but I firmly believe that to be rather naïve.  As we've been kicked far too many times to let such a mistake slip through the cracks, I suspect more liberal forces will diligently endeavor to bring this issue to the forefront by using the new amendment to challenge those who find it so easy to discriminate against others.  That will be entertaining.

Update: I wanted to quote an e-mail from Jenny regarding this issue: "Well it's just what you can expect in such a state. Red states have higher divorce rates, suck up more government entitlements, and vote like the Taliban."  It's that last part that seemed excrutiatingly accurate — voting like the Taliban.  How true that is.