Wednesday, November 09, 2005

There were elections in half a dozen states yesterday, and for the most part Democrats did well. The only real defeat that I know of was an amendment to the Texas constitution banning same-sex marriage. Here it is. But there's something funny about it. To my admittedly untrained eye, unless there's something very unintuitive about Texas's previous constitution... it looks like there's something in the bill that shouldn't be. When it was pointed out to me, I had to struggle to keep from laughing out loud at work. Can you guess why?

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article I, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 32 to read as follows:
Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.


[Emphasis mine.] So, am I reading that wrong, or did they outlaw all marriage? Well, more accurately, take the government out of regulating marriage. Which might be nothing to complain about, but I don't think it's what anyone was expecting.

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