Since we have the Falwells and Dobsons of the world pointing out the alleged decadent, immoral behavior of gays as a threat to the sanctity of marriage, a group in Texas, Practice What You Preach, has formed to set the record “straight”, as it were. The real culprits, they contend, are casual no-fault divorce and domestic violence, so the Red-staters need to take a look in the mirror. From the release:

Practice What You Preach today offered a mainstream opposition to HJR 6, the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Texas.

“If they agree with us that two parents are better than one, then the reactionary legislators pushing this ban should practice what they preach,” said Jason Stanford. “It is a bright and shining lie to say that HJR 6 would do anything to help marriage. The Texas legislature needs to practice what it preaches and focus on the real threats to marriage.”

Marriage is not a wedge issue. In fact, it’s in crisis. Here are the facts:

Texas has one of the highest divorce rates in the country, and with around 100,000 divorces in Texas every year, our divorce rate is 71 percent higher than Massachusetts’;

Children suffer more than anyone from the divorce epidemic. A study by the conservative Heritage Foundation found that children of divorce “exhibit more health, behavioral, and emotional problems, are involved more frequently in crime and drug abuse, and have higher rates of suicide.” In school, these kids “perform more poorly in reading, spelling, and math. They also … have higher drop-out rates and lower rates of college graduation.”

There are 900,000 victims of domestic violence in Texas every year, prompting the Texas Council on Family Violence to conclude, “Domestic violence is an epidemic in Texas.”

Practice What You Preach plans an aggressive statewide campaign and already has a website up and running at PracticeWhatYouPreach.org.

“We’re going to take it straight to them,” said Stanford.

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