Nbadan
11-04-2005, 04:38 AM
Voters under 25 have a chance to take charge of Texas' future by rejecting Proposition 2.
THE past year has not been very empowering for young adults. Just starting to earn a living and newly eligible to vote, they have witnessed a cavalcade of events beyond their control: disasters in Asia, terrorist bombs in Europe, interminable warfare in the Middle East. At home, officials are under investigation for endangering national security.
Yet even when younger voters have real clout, they tend not to use it. The vote on Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot, a proposal that would ban gay couples' right to legally protect their families, offers young people a chance to make their influence felt.
Eighteen- to 25-year-olds vote at about half the rate of 45- to 55-year-olds, notes Rice University political scientist Bob Stein. Without home ownership, school districts and careers to worry about, the younger age group doesn't feel driven to participate. What a waste. If 18- to 25-year-olds voted their stated beliefs next month, they could show the country that Texans will not stand for bigotry.
Proposition 2 would amend the Texas Constitution to deny same-sex couples not only the right to marry, but also the right to contract any agreements that offer similar protections. On its face, this is redundant: Same-sex marriage is already illegal in Texas.
Examined closely, the proposition becomes actually ludicrous: the drafters' desire to attack unconventional relationships resulted in a proposal so sloppily written that its wording outlaws "any" compact, including marriage between a woman and man.
This amendment would do serious harm. Suddenly it will be far more difficult for Texans to exercise their wishes if they decide same-sex rights merit further thought. More urgently, the referendum's language — banning anything even "similar" to marriage — in one dismissive sweep jeopardizes the safety of children in Texas' estimated 42,912 gay families.
Raised in a culture with a divorce rate greater than 50 percent, Texas' young adults have no delusion that gay couples threaten traditional marriage. In fact, national polls show that voters under the age of 25 support legal recognition of same-sex relationships by a 3-1 margin. About two out of three voters through their mid-30s support these rights.
This year, young voters can flex an extraordinary amount of muscle. In odd-year elections such as this one, voter turnout is only about 7 percent to 10 percent. Because Texas is a disproportionately youthful state, young voters could come out at twice or three times that proportion and drive Proposition 2 into the ground.
There's not much voters can do about natural calamities, stateless terrorists or dishonest, unelected public officials. But Texas' young voters can exert amazing leverage on the home front next month. They need to vote — and show that hateful legislation is an embarrassment in 21st century Texas.
Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3424592)
You know, some evil little devil in my mind wants me to vote "yes"on 2, just to spit in the faces of the dumb-ass group who didn't even know how to write this vile proposition correctly.
THE past year has not been very empowering for young adults. Just starting to earn a living and newly eligible to vote, they have witnessed a cavalcade of events beyond their control: disasters in Asia, terrorist bombs in Europe, interminable warfare in the Middle East. At home, officials are under investigation for endangering national security.
Yet even when younger voters have real clout, they tend not to use it. The vote on Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot, a proposal that would ban gay couples' right to legally protect their families, offers young people a chance to make their influence felt.
Eighteen- to 25-year-olds vote at about half the rate of 45- to 55-year-olds, notes Rice University political scientist Bob Stein. Without home ownership, school districts and careers to worry about, the younger age group doesn't feel driven to participate. What a waste. If 18- to 25-year-olds voted their stated beliefs next month, they could show the country that Texans will not stand for bigotry.
Proposition 2 would amend the Texas Constitution to deny same-sex couples not only the right to marry, but also the right to contract any agreements that offer similar protections. On its face, this is redundant: Same-sex marriage is already illegal in Texas.
Examined closely, the proposition becomes actually ludicrous: the drafters' desire to attack unconventional relationships resulted in a proposal so sloppily written that its wording outlaws "any" compact, including marriage between a woman and man.
This amendment would do serious harm. Suddenly it will be far more difficult for Texans to exercise their wishes if they decide same-sex rights merit further thought. More urgently, the referendum's language — banning anything even "similar" to marriage — in one dismissive sweep jeopardizes the safety of children in Texas' estimated 42,912 gay families.
Raised in a culture with a divorce rate greater than 50 percent, Texas' young adults have no delusion that gay couples threaten traditional marriage. In fact, national polls show that voters under the age of 25 support legal recognition of same-sex relationships by a 3-1 margin. About two out of three voters through their mid-30s support these rights.
This year, young voters can flex an extraordinary amount of muscle. In odd-year elections such as this one, voter turnout is only about 7 percent to 10 percent. Because Texas is a disproportionately youthful state, young voters could come out at twice or three times that proportion and drive Proposition 2 into the ground.
There's not much voters can do about natural calamities, stateless terrorists or dishonest, unelected public officials. But Texas' young voters can exert amazing leverage on the home front next month. They need to vote — and show that hateful legislation is an embarrassment in 21st century Texas.
Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3424592)
You know, some evil little devil in my mind wants me to vote "yes"on 2, just to spit in the faces of the dumb-ass group who didn't even know how to write this vile proposition correctly.