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By Vivian Greentree

Last Sunday at church my friends Beverly and Jennifer had a re-commitment ceremony to celebrate their one year anniversary. They reread old vows and renewed old pledges. And best of all, their church family was there to be a witness to it.

With the impending November vote that proposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Texas, my friends Beverly and Jennifer spring to the foreground of the debate for me. After all, these are two people, a family, that are affected by such bigotry every day.

I have to laugh (sadly) at one newspaper's summation of the amendment's outcome, "Political prizes and penalties abound for those who are vocal on gay marriage, but the biggest effect could be on Republican Gov. Rick Perry's bid for re-election." Seriously? The biggest effect of whether gay marriage is legal or not is going to be on Rick Perry? I beg to differ. The biggest, most invasive effect is going to be on the gay and lesbian couples who cannot carry out the mundane details of their lives without the interference and temerity of what would be a socially and morally repugnant law.

Rick Perry will still be straight and married after the vote is decided. Either way, he will retain the right to have access to his wife should she be placed under medical supervision and will also be able to include her on his insurance policies. He will certainly continue to be allowed to apply to be a foster or adoptive parent (not that he has done that in the past…but just in case). My friends Beverly and Jennifer - well, they won't be so lucky. They will have to prepare for the future like other conscience gay and lesbian couples do by filling out forms and forms of legal documents that give each other the most basic rights that any heterosexual married couple already has. Oh, and they will still not be welcomed in most houses of worship.

What is perhaps the most backwards of this whole gay marriage vote is that if it passes, and gay marriage is made illegal in Texas - what does that solve? Does it rank Texas any higher in environmental matters? Will it do away with unemployment and resolve the educational issues that continually plague this state? Will it produce anything concrete that its champions can point to and say, "See, we have saved lives and made this state a little better?"

It has been said that in Texas, gay marriage is already illegal and that this amendment is just a smokescreen to take voters' minds off the real problems like healthcare and education. It has also been hypothesized that, given its strict wording, if this amendment were to pass, it would have sweeping effects on legal protections currently afforded to couples in domestic partnerships and common-law marriages.

These are not the reasons why I would vote against the ban though. To me, those arguments, while totally valid, miss the major significances that we should be focusing on. I agree with Rabbi Saulson, president of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association, who believes one's religious beliefs should not restrict another's civil rights, especially when the restriction would have the government intrude into affairs of the church. Furthermore, our constitution, at both the federal and local levels, is for all citizens. These documents, and the spirit behind them, is to safeguard our liberties, not diminish them. The next amendment to our constitution - federal or state - that our prestigious public servants should be enthused about is one that fundamentally expands "equal rights" to all our nation's citizens - and yes, for all the ambitious GOPers out there, that does include the gay ones.