Editorial Of The Day

From the San Antonio Express-News:

Texas’ resistance to civil rights is part of history. So, fortunately, is the state’s eventual embrace, with some noticeable lapses — exemplified most recently by voter ID and gerrymandering. The state is there again on the issue of gay marriage and gay rights generally. How about being on the right side of history this time? A bill by Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, would effectively close the courthouse door to gay marriage even if the U.S. Supreme Court outlaws state bans on such unions. The high court heard arguments in a consolidated gay marriage case last month. Texas voters approved the state’s ban in 2005.

“The intent is to assert the sovereign rights of Texas and of the citizens of Texas,” Bell said of his bill. “I believe it is a bipartisan issue — our social rights and our traditional values.” Social rights. Traditional values. Sovereign rights. These words could have come from any anti-civil rights playbook of the 1960s. In any case, Bell should recognize that the plural personal pronoun, our, means all of us. Bell’s bill was voted out of the House State Affairs Committee, 7-3, on April 22. It should go no farther if, this time, Texas wants to be on the right side of history — and justice. State government has no business telling Texans who they can love and marry.