As R Cane reports over on Central Front, the game is afoot in terms of Texas's antigay state constitutional amendment (further details can be viewed here with registration -- if you are already registered with Dallasnews.com or other Belo media outlets, you can use your username and password here as well).
On the one hand, obviously this is a downer -- we were entertaining hopes that this sucker would die in committee. On the other, though, this may be a bit of legislative gamesmanship on the part of Swinford and Wong, who are fully aware that Warren Chisum, chief homophobe of the Texas Legislature and of the Texas Republican Party, is dumb enough to do like he said he would and try to re-add the language broadly banning legal arrangements of any type that originally blocked the bill in committee with the objection that it would invalidate or ban existing arrangements. That has barely a chance of passing on the House or Senate floor, much less getting the two-thirds required for the amendment to clear the Legislature and be put on the ballot. Furthermore, at this point in time, it's basically do-or-die for the amendment -- either it gets passed or it dies for this session.
This of course makes it more imperative that Texas glbts continue to write their state senators and representatives, reminding them of the dangers in constitutional amendments with overreaching language (a la Ohio) and how this debate is taking time away from the vastly more-important issue of school finance.
Meanwhile, R Cane and I will be out here digging trenches and antitank ditches. (grin)
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