Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 33, Ed. 1 Friday, December 30, 2005 Page: 1 of 60
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2005 »
SARY OF NEWS EVENTS I NATIONAL » 10$ ANSELES POLICE WILL RECRUIT AT QAY GAMES Wl I PIUS »
'TT'1
DOSSIER
Lucas and Williams of
‘Little Britain' are set to
give The Simpsons a bit
of old England as guest
stars. PAGE 4.
INTERNATIONAL
Same-sex couples in
the United Kingdom
make it legal, including
Elton John and David
Furnish. PAGE.
VOLUME 22 I ISSUE 33
ESTABLISHED 1984
-■dallasvoice.com-
Top Stories of 2005
DECEMBER I 30 l 2005
THE PREMIER SOURCE FOR GLBT DALLAS/FORT WORTH
Train wrecks and natural disasters — and a few triumphs
Clockwise from right.- Hurricane Katrina trapped hun-
dreds with rising floodwaters as rescuers scrambled to
reach them in time, not always successfully. —The Rev.
Troy Perry, founder of the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches, stepped down as
the denomination’s first moderator and was succeeded
by the Rev. Nancy Wilson, who was installed in October.
—Gay California Assemblyman Mark Leno’s bill legaliz-
ing gay marriage was defeated the first time around,
but Leno succeeded in getting the measure amended
onto another bill and it eventually passed both houses
of the Legislature. —Protesters lined the road outside a
Fort Worth Christian school, Calvary Christian Academy,
while inside, Governor Rick Perry signed a proposed
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in a
symbolic act in front of hundreds of cheering evangeli-
cals. Perry’s signature on the measure wasn't required
since amending the state constitution is a matter for
the Legislature and the people.
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We fought the evangelicals hand to hand in
2005 — and got crucified, 3 to 1. We took on
evacuees from probably the largest hurricane
ever to strike the Gulf coast, and the costs in
lives, dollars and the spirit of an old and treas-
ured American city are still being tallied. The
editors ’ selection of the top stories of the year
begins below. A separate timeline of major news
happenings during 2005 begins on Page 6.
By Dennis Vercher Staff Writer
Some years make you want to hold them close
and let them go only reluctantly. For most gays
and lesbians, 2005 was not one of those years.
Storm clouds began gathering like a blue norther
in late fall of 2004, when Representative Warren
Chisum, a Republican ofPampa, prefiled a
measure to forbid gay marriage by amending the
Texas Constitution. Chisum’s resolution includ-
ing language that also foreclosed any arrange-
ment “identical or similar to marriage.”
Of the 17 state constitutional amendments pre-
viously passed, only a handful took this
approach, but gays recognized them as the Bad
Ones — overreaching, vague, with no clear
answers about how far the amendments could be
interpreted to stamp out legal recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
A hearing at the powerful State Affairs
Committee began at 2 p.m. on April 4 and sailed
on for more than 12 hours. Only one person tes-
tified in favor of the amendment, and more than
100 spoke against it. The committee took no
action that evening, but soon the measure was
brought up and passed, and send top the
Calendars Committee, the panel that schedules
bills for floor consideration. On the floor, law-
makers jumped on the measure like a chicken on
a June bug, and on April 25, lawmakers passed
the resolution by a 3-to-l margin.
In the Senate, the measure languished. And
languished. It appeared the amendment might die
right then and there. But finally, with just over
three weeks left in the session, Senator Todd
Stapes, a Republican of Palestine, sponsored the
resolution and it readily passed.
It was official. Voters would have the final say
in the Nov. 8 election.
For the first time, Texas gays found them-
selves directly opposing the might of political
evangelicals. Organizing was begun in earnest in
July, and former Representative Glen Maxey was
appointed to lead the campaign against the
See TOP STORIES on PAGE 18
.
FRIDAY Partly Cloudy 78°
-jisgS NEW YEAR’S EVE Partly Cloudy 53/62
NEW YEAR'S DAY Partly Cloudy 43/58
Partly cloudy and mild through the weekend, with low humidity
and moderate winds from the south beginning Saturday and
increasing to moderate on Saturday night and Sunday.
Local News 6
National News 20
Viewpoints 24
Life+Style 26
Starvoice 39
Calendar 41
Classifieds 54
As Vera Carp heralds the
new year, her ‘Greater
Tuna1 creator, Jaston
Williams, reflects on
2005: Harriet Miers, Tom
DeLay and Dallas' new
sheriff. PAGE 26.
! After relocating from Los
Angeles, gay aerialist
Neal Everett makes his
Dallas debut with a
gravity-defying ballet on
New Year’s Eve at
Station 4. PAGE 32.
With an eclectic take on
New American cuisine,
gay-owned Hector’s on
Henderson made Dallas
Voice's list for Top 10
new restaurants of
2005. PAGE 36.
v
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 33, Ed. 1 Friday, December 30, 2005, newspaper, December 30, 2005; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616424/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.