Gay Marriage in Texas

Marriage.  Is the sanctity of marriage at stake? Over the past years there has been an increase in homosexuals wanting to solidify their relationships with marriage.  Is this a bad thing? I mean, shouldn’t they have a right to get married like the rest of us? If anything, they should be able to get married for their own protection.  By this I mean that if someone in the partnership were to die, the other person should be able to receive benefits.  What if this couple had children, the child wouldn’t be guaranteed to stay with the other partner.  Can you imagine the damage that would cause that child?! First they lose a parent, and then they get taken away from the only parent they have left until custody was figured out.  That just doesn’t seem fair to the child or the live parent.  What if none of these were to happen though, no deaths, and no children, should homosexuals be able to marry?

What does Texas think? When there was a vote to pass an Anti-Gay Marriage amendment, it passed by 70% in Texas.  This is expected of course though because of the major Republican representation in Texas.  We are known for being ultra conservative and not the most open state when it comes to cases like gay marriage.  Why does Texas feel so strongly though about this? Does allowing two people to get married that are of the same sex affect anyone outside of the couple? The answer is no.  It only affects that gay couple, so why not let them get married?  Why wouldn’t Texas want to protect their citizens with benefits only received by a married couple? Some say it’s because most of the conservative Republicans are Christian who believe only man and woman should get married.  This would mean that the Republicans would be indirectly pushing Christianity on the state and later the nation.  I do understand this and how it could look like that, but at the same time, many Christians are accepting of gay marriage, they just might not live in the state of Texas.  Texas did go out of their way to pass their amendment against gay marriage when it was already illegal to have a same sex marriage.  This seems a little over the top just because it wasn’t an issue and they decided to make it one.    

In the Texan Republicans fight against gay marriage they did bring up the fact that being gay can spread dangerous diseases.  An example of this happening was when there was a huge outbreak of AIDS in the 80’s that was mainly affecting the homosexual men.  The only thing with Texas bringing the spread of diseases up when discussing the gay marriage issue is that by outlawing gay marriage it isn’t going to stop them from being gay or having partners.  The homosexual population will still exist, they just won’t be making their partnership official.  So, I don’t believe this should be a reason for outlawing gay marriage in Texas.  I can definitely see people coming back from my opinion saying that if you were to let gay marriage be legal in Texas then more people could become curious about being gay because it would be a more official option of personal preference.  By legalizing gay marriage it would become more of a normal thing that people would see which would make children as they grow up feel as if they should experiment since people go either way.  So I can see where someone who had those views could come from, but I feel that it isn’t a definite outcome and in all honesty, what right do we have to decide how someone lives their life? 

-Kelsey Scott 

Give Us the Facts Juanita...

“Kill em’ All!” Not exactly the words we want to hear when referring to anyone. These words were spoken about the Mexican Immigrants crossing the Texas borders.   I do have to agree with Ms. Jean in this specific case that stating to kill anyone who crosses the border isn’t rational or humane in any sense, but there is a reason why this has been said.  Ms. Jean, in her blog, “Oh For Pete’s Sake”, discusses how the Commissioner of Agriculture has decided it’s time to put a stop the immigration flow into Texas from Mexico.  Throughout the blog, she tries to target the unknowing citizen of Texas that doesn’t know what is going on around them.  What she says to her audience, will be the only source of News that they are receiving.  In some ways, she does speak some truths, but she leaves out major facts that need to be stated! 

When writing her blog, she can easily sway someone to believe what she feels if she leaves out important information.  The way she wrote the blog, it made it look like there was no sane reason to put a stop to immigration.  This is not the case, by reading her embedded link it does verify the fact that some of the border cities are safer than our own city of Austin, but it also shared a vital piece of information.  The farmers are ACTUALLY at risk and the threats are REAL!  There are drug cartels coming through their towns and putting their own safety at risk.  There have been older farmers that have actually given up their careers because of how many dangerous immigrants have been passing through.  Now, this doesn’t give us the right to “Kill em’ All”, but it does give us the right to enforce the National Immigration Laws. Texas just needs to find a more humane way to enforce these laws.  With all of that said, Ms. Jean should have included the vital piece of information about the farmers being in harms way in her blog to make it less one-sided of an argument.  Her audience needs all of the facts before making an opinion for themselves.  

Now, before anyone takes Ms. Jean too seriously, it is important to note her line of work.  She is a hair stylist.  Not that this isn’t a good profession, but how qualified is a hair stylist to give her opinion on politics and what should be going on in this state.  She considers her blogs as her political organization.. Last time I checked, a blog site is not equivalent to a political organization.  It’s fine to read her blogs, but take them with a grain of salt, because from the looks of it, she leaves out important facts, and isn’t completely qualified to be giving the state of Texas her political opinion.  

-Kelsey Scott