Equality Texas has posted a petition calling for the Austin City Council to approve a resolution in support of marriage equality. As far as I know, Austin would be the first city in Texas to do so.
According to the petition, the resolution is sponsored by Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole and Councilwoman Laura Morrison, and backed by Equality Texas, the Human Rights Campaign, the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The resolution will be voted on in September.
“Marriage provides legal and economic protections including access to health care, recognition of parental and custodial responsibilities, property rights, and other protections which are vital to the safety and security of every family, and is a powerful and important affirmation of love and commitment and a source of social support and recognition,” the petition states in part. “As the Supreme Court said in the 1967 landmark case Loving v. Virginia, ‘Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival. Thank you for your leadership in support of the freedom to marry and for sending the message nationwide that the City of Austin values equality.”
The petition currently has 326 signatures, with a goal of 1,000. Especially if you live in Austin, but even if you don’t, sign it by going here.
On a side note, one can’t help but wonder how long it will be before a similar resolution is proposed in Dallas. Leffingwell is among the six mayors from Texas who signed a Freedom to Marry “pledge” earlier this year. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, of course, is not — even though Rawlings has said he would vote in favor of marriage equality if he had the chance.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that with Rawlings’ support, the votes are there right now, today, on the Dallas City Council to pass a similar resolution. Can you guess who my other seven votes are?
UPDATE: Daniel Williams at Equality Texas sent over a copy of the resolution that will be voted on by the Austin City Council in September, and I’ve posted it below. The resolution is a powerful statement in support of equality, and one that pro-LGBT council members in every progressive city in this state should consider putting forward.
