Arizona became the first state to reject a ban on same-sex marriage because voters felt government should stay away from it, not because people supported gay marriage, according to a poll released last week.
A clear majority, 60 percent, of those who voted against the measure said they felt it violated individual rights. While 30 percent said they voted against the measure because it was not fair to deny benefits to unmarried couple, only 8 percent said they supported same-sex marriage.
As reported by the AP:
"This issue had nothing to do with same-sex marriage," said Kyrsten Sinema, a Democratic state lawmaker and leader of a campaign against the proposal. "What it did was take away benefits and legal protections that unmarried families in Arizona had. And Arizonans believe that's wrong: that the government shouldn't take things away from people." ...
"What we did in Arizona, which wasn't done successfully in any other state, we showed the real lives that would be hurt if this passed," Sinema said.
4 Comments for “Behind the Arizona Victory”
posted by cesquaq on
if only we could have convinced colo voters of this same fact. i believe the outing of ted haggard was selfish in this only because of the knee jerk reaction of religious voters against anything gay. polls showed a close race before hand in gay favor. if only mike jones would have waited till after the election we could have had an article like this printed about us. boo hoo. (this is the sound of a libertarian crying!!!!!)
posted by Tom Scharbach on
“A clear majority, 60 percent, of those who voted against the measure said they felt it violated individual rights.”
Constitutional conservatism — at core, a conviction that individual freedom must be defended against government — appears to have survived in Arizona. We have Barry Goldwater to thank for that, I think.
posted by Wayne on
I’m glad to hear of victories like this in the US. Being from Canada, we’ve had ours for a while. However, the battle never ends.
Two additional thoughts that came to mind because of this article:
1. While society in general may not support gay marriage, gay relationships or same-sex benefits, they do respond when we become part of the whole, with real problems that we all face.
2. Perhaps if we want issues facing the GLBT community to be address or supported by the public at large, we should start being inclusive in our language, making the issues not JUST about gays, but about personal freedoms, and the like.
I do believe that for every freedom that is denied one group, it opens the door for descrimination against everyone. Those who would oppress do so in small steps, thus making it harder for the public at large to realize the danger until it’s too late.
NOTE: The battle isn’t over in Canada, nor will it every be over anywhere.
posted by Craig2 on
However, bear in mind that Canada is expected to reject reopening debate on SSM, and that New Zealand voted down a proposed same-sex marriage ban bill in December 2005. Defeating the other side on this issue isn’t impossible.
Craig2
Wellington, New Zealand