Lucille
02-28-2014, 05:05 PM
I thought now (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?444890-Controversy-Over-Arizona-quot-Religious-Freedom-quot-Bill) would be a good time to remind America that LGBT groups killed an effort overturn the Arizona ban on same-sex marriage.
Gay Marriage Recognition Efforts in Arizona Falter, But Not Because of Conservative Opposition
http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/11/gay-marriage-recognition-efforts-in-ariz
Back in June, some folks in Arizona started organizing efforts to overturn the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriage. They were putting together a ballot initiative that would turn the state’s marriage law sex-neutral (but would still limit recognition to couples).
The effort was organized by Arizona Log Cabin Republican (those are gay and gay-friendly Republicans) caucus chair Erin Ogletree Simpson and libertarian blogger/business owner and Gary Johnson supporter Warren Meyer.
Their organization, Equal Marriage Arizona, had until July 2014 to gather about 260,000 signatures to get it on the ballot for fall of next year. But they announced this week that they’re abandoning their efforts, because they can’t seem to get support for their efforts – from the left.
[...]
“They didn’t feel like Arizona was ready for equal marriage in 2014,” Ogletree Simpson said of the advocacy groups. “I’m just happy our effort has prompted a focus from the various group to look at 2016 and start putting together a strategy.”
But a poll in May showed that a majority of Arizonans do support gay marriage recognition – 55 percent. And if current trends hold, that number is likely to rise by 2014. Equal Marriage Arizona has already gathered 9,000 signatures. Ogletree Simpson said people in the Arizona gay community were ready for a fight, but it appeared the activist leadership wasn’t willing to support them.
[...]
This push was being organized by conservatives and libertarians (and both organizers have business connections). What other people across the political spectrum did they need, other than the Democrats/liberals? It seems like this problem is self-created by the advocacy groups’ refusal to participate. On Equal Marriage Arizona’s Facebook page, volunteer Elisha Dorfsmith took a dim view of the failure of established gay activist groups to come aboard:
My comments to Flagstaff Pride who went out of their way to fight equal marriage Arizona:
[...]
The ballot measure wording was something that nobody could argue with. It changed the current language that says marriage is between a man and woman to "two people". Libertarians and Log Cabin Republicans were all out collecting signatures and campaigning. I personally collected pages and pages of signatures.
If everyone had joined together it could have passed. Unfortunately, peer pressure and dare I say bullying by groups on the left caused every left leaning group that had previously endorsed the measure to pull their support.
The impression I am left with is that the only reason the left fought this so hard is because the ballot measure was not created by Democrats.
Equal Marriage Arizona on Hold
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/09/equal-marriage-arizona-on-hold.html
The buzz saw we ran into was not from the Conservative opposition but from those we thought of as our allies. Several prominent LGBT and gay marriage groups turned against us early, and pressured nearly every other group on the Left to oppose us, even getting a number of groups who had endorsed us early to withdraw their endorsements.
The reasons for this were myriad, and I may write that story at some future date. Some of the wounds were self-inflicted on our part, and some were frankly due to my failings as a leader in this political arena. But I am convinced that these groups were never, ever going to support us. Some groups honestly worried that 2014 was too early in Arizona. Others had... other concerns. Scott Shackford of Reason makes some pretty good guesses, but there were issues beyond these.
Gay Marriage Recognition Efforts in Arizona Falter, But Not Because of Conservative Opposition
http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/11/gay-marriage-recognition-efforts-in-ariz
Back in June, some folks in Arizona started organizing efforts to overturn the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriage. They were putting together a ballot initiative that would turn the state’s marriage law sex-neutral (but would still limit recognition to couples).
The effort was organized by Arizona Log Cabin Republican (those are gay and gay-friendly Republicans) caucus chair Erin Ogletree Simpson and libertarian blogger/business owner and Gary Johnson supporter Warren Meyer.
Their organization, Equal Marriage Arizona, had until July 2014 to gather about 260,000 signatures to get it on the ballot for fall of next year. But they announced this week that they’re abandoning their efforts, because they can’t seem to get support for their efforts – from the left.
[...]
“They didn’t feel like Arizona was ready for equal marriage in 2014,” Ogletree Simpson said of the advocacy groups. “I’m just happy our effort has prompted a focus from the various group to look at 2016 and start putting together a strategy.”
But a poll in May showed that a majority of Arizonans do support gay marriage recognition – 55 percent. And if current trends hold, that number is likely to rise by 2014. Equal Marriage Arizona has already gathered 9,000 signatures. Ogletree Simpson said people in the Arizona gay community were ready for a fight, but it appeared the activist leadership wasn’t willing to support them.
[...]
This push was being organized by conservatives and libertarians (and both organizers have business connections). What other people across the political spectrum did they need, other than the Democrats/liberals? It seems like this problem is self-created by the advocacy groups’ refusal to participate. On Equal Marriage Arizona’s Facebook page, volunteer Elisha Dorfsmith took a dim view of the failure of established gay activist groups to come aboard:
My comments to Flagstaff Pride who went out of their way to fight equal marriage Arizona:
[...]
The ballot measure wording was something that nobody could argue with. It changed the current language that says marriage is between a man and woman to "two people". Libertarians and Log Cabin Republicans were all out collecting signatures and campaigning. I personally collected pages and pages of signatures.
If everyone had joined together it could have passed. Unfortunately, peer pressure and dare I say bullying by groups on the left caused every left leaning group that had previously endorsed the measure to pull their support.
The impression I am left with is that the only reason the left fought this so hard is because the ballot measure was not created by Democrats.
Equal Marriage Arizona on Hold
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/09/equal-marriage-arizona-on-hold.html
The buzz saw we ran into was not from the Conservative opposition but from those we thought of as our allies. Several prominent LGBT and gay marriage groups turned against us early, and pressured nearly every other group on the Left to oppose us, even getting a number of groups who had endorsed us early to withdraw their endorsements.
The reasons for this were myriad, and I may write that story at some future date. Some of the wounds were self-inflicted on our part, and some were frankly due to my failings as a leader in this political arena. But I am convinced that these groups were never, ever going to support us. Some groups honestly worried that 2014 was too early in Arizona. Others had... other concerns. Scott Shackford of Reason makes some pretty good guesses, but there were issues beyond these.