Gay-rights group
demands apology
By R.A. Dyer, star-telegram.com
from the Web, June 10, 2005
AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry
should apologize for suggesting that Texas' gay and lesbian war veterans should
go elsewhere to live if they want to marry, gay-rights advocates said Thursday.
"Any time the governor singles out a group of Texans, and says they should go
live elsewhere -- people should be concerned," said Randall Ellis, executive
director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas.
"We're talking about a group of Texans who have given to their country and made
sacrifices," Ellis said. "For him to suggest that they're unworthy of
living in Texas is just appalling."
Ellis was among several gay-rights advocates who demanded that Perry apologize
for statements made during a June 5 bill-signing ceremony outside a Fort Worth
church.
A reporter covering the event asked Perry how he would tell gay veterans that
they can't come home from Iraq and get married in Texas because of the state ban
on same-sex unions.
According to reports, Perry said that if gay veterans don't like Texas law, they
can leave.
"I'm going to say Texas has made a decision on marriage, and if there's a state
with more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's where they should live,"
Perry said.
Ellis said that his organization has not received a response to a letter it sent
Perry on Wednesday demanding an apology. A spokeswoman for the governor
said that Perry respects all Texas servicemen and servicewomen and that no
apology is necessary.
"You have to know the context of the governor's comments," spokeswoman Kathy
Walt said. "The governor's response was directed at that very narrow
hypothetical [question]. He said that if their desire is to get married,
they'll have to go to another state that has more liberal views of gay marriage
than Texas."
ONLINE: The Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas,
www.lgrl.org
R.A. Dyer, (512)
476-4294
rdyer@star-telegram.com
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