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Measure to bar gay marriage qualifies for California ballot
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by Dave Keating | June 2, 2008 at 11:19 pm
222 views | 5 Recommendations | 2 comments
With this issue on the November ballot, California could be in play for Republicans this year. A gay marriage ban referendum would drive religious conservatives to the polls, increasing turnout for McCain, who would be unlikely to motivate them to go to the polls otherwise.
Setting the stage for a political showdown, the California secretary of state today said an initiative barring gay marriage had enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot.
The proposal would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as a union "between a man and a woman" and undo last month's historic California Supreme Court ruling, which found that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was unconstitutional.
A coalition of religious and conservative activists submitted 1.1 million signatures for the ballot measure. Random sampling by Secretary of State Debra Bowen found that enough legitimate signatures had been collected.
Many opponents of same-sex marriage saw the high court's ruling as a rejection of past ballot measures against the practice, most recently Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. It passed in 2000 with 61% of the vote.
Supporters of the latest initiative described Monday's certification as "great news" but acknowledged that recent surveys had shown opposition to same-sex marriage weakening in recent years.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 01:09 on June 3rd, 2008
Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 16:03 on June 3rd, 2008
This is truly sad. If the only way McCain can win is by motivating people negatively to turn out and vote against something the republican party is in real trouble. I am canadian but I was trained in the US by the RNC as a political communications operative in the days of regan.
What happened to all those speeches evoking Ronal Regan? Regan ran on optimism and inclusion not fear and intollerance...."It's sunrise in America". Remember that slogan? That was Ronald Regans campaign slogan. Ronald Regaan was a great President! Anyone who would resort to this for victory does not deserve to quote the Great Communicator.
Funny how right-wing conservatives who abhore religious fundamentalism in other religions and other countries are so willing to practice it in their own home on US citizens.