Young Conservatives of Texas Out Of Touch With Texas?

The Young Conservatives of Texas graced us with their legislative agenda for the 82nd Texas Legislature this week. The group was first formed in 1980, and apparently still holds true to values from 1980. Mind you, they also claim to be nonpartisan.

While perusing their agenda, a few things stick out to me. Their Top 15 Legislative Priorities are quite the priority list. "1. Concealed Carry On Campus". Really? That is number 1? Out of all things that Texas will face this year, like the gaping $27 Billion budget hole, hiding your pistol on campus is priority one?

Number 9 is rather interesting as well: "Limiting the authority of cities to annex territory without explicit voter approval". I am sure there are folks out there who would love not to have their rural home gobbled up by an encroaching city, but there is this thing called extra territorial jurisdiction that gives them that right and also the right to enforce their will on an area outside the city. That is a long precedent and will take a lot to get rid of.

They also go onto say they oppose gambling. Totally not fun.

And when I thought things could not get worse, they saved their worst for the last page. The "Family/Ethical Issues" is an assault on women, the LGBT community, and people who don't want to stick to missionary sex. They want to regulate a woman's right to choose. They want to oppose any and all rights of LGBT people to marry or get a civil union, even going so far as to oppose domestic partnership benefits. They also want to enforce Texas sodomy laws. Didn't we already have a Supreme Court of the United States ruling that it was ok to fuck a Young Conservative of Texas in the mouth? I am pretty sure we did. Of course, Lawrence v. Texas did not explicitly call for that, it does give one the option.

The main point is, YCT's are out of touch with reality and out of touch with Texas. Equality Texas recently commissioned a poll in 2010. Among the findings, 63% of Texans believe gays and lesbians should be allowed to have a civil union. 5 years ago, the state voted to ban all forms of recognition of those relationships. My how times have changed. If only the Young Conservatives would too.