Gay marriage and the date debate

Nearly nine months after California voters banned same-sex marriage in the state, gay marriage supporters are ready to ask them to overturn Proposition 8. They’re just not sure when to ask: In November 2010 or November 2012.

Choosing a date involves more than sifting through the polling, community meetings and consultants’ reports that have filled the time since last fall’s election with soul-searching and finger-pointing among supporters, culminating in a meeting of the movement’s leaders Saturday in San Bernardino.

Generating enthusiasm for a grassroots campaign will also be a heart-based decision, one that has split same-sex couples even in Kern County, where 75 percent of voters backed Prop. 8.

Bakersfield resident Jade Haley wants an initiative in 2010. Her partner Alee Gamino thinks that’s too soon. Gamino’s Catholic mother still refers to Haley as “she” and has no contact with them as a couple, who are raising Gamino’s teenage daughter from a previous relationship.

Churches’ influence

On Sundays, Gamino, 34, goes to church twice. She attends a Catholic service solo with her mom in the morning and goes to a Metropolitan Community Church with her partner in the evening. “The churches have thousands and thousands of people ready to go against us,” said Gamino. She looked at 70 people who came to a Unitarian Universalist Church on Thursday to talk about the movement’s next step. “All we have is what’s in this room.”

Still, Gamino was among only a dozen people at the Bakersfield meeting called by Marriage Equality USA who supported waiting until 2012. The sentiment for a vote next year echoed one at a similar gathering in San Francisco, while gatherings in liberal bastions such as Oakland and Berkeley leaned toward 2012.

“The reaction was really mixed,” said Pam Brown, Marriage Equality USA’s political director, who compiled information from the organization’s “Get Engaged” tour of 40 California cities over the past several weeks. “A lot of people who wanted to wait until 2012 wanted to see what the plan was first before they committed.”

A nonbinding straw poll of leaders gathered Saturday in San Bernardino to plan the movement’s next step found that 93 people voted to go in 2010, 49 in 2012 and 20 were undecided. Organizers expect to officially decide when to return to the ballot in a couple of weeks. If they decide on November 2010, the deadline to have ballot language submitted to the attorney general is Sept. 25.

Faults not addressed

This month, several groups of same-sex marriage supporters said not enough has been done to address the faults of last year’s campaign in time to mount a winning drive next year.

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A Great Lakes shift on gay rights? Detroit Free Press

Poll numbers released last week indicate that Michigan voters, who only five years ago overwhelming supported a constitutional amendment that limits marriage to one man and one woman, may be softening on the question of gay marriage and other rights for same-sex couples.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090607/NEWS06/906070461&s=d&page=2#pluckcomments”>This story by Free Press reporter Dawson Bell details the results of a May 27-29 survey by Chicago-based http://www.glengariffgroup.com/“>Glengariff Group, which showed support for gay marriage in Michigan at 46%, with opposition at 48%.

The 2004 constitutional amendment was approved 61% to 24%.

The poll also found majority support for hospital visitation rights, benefits for public employees and adoption rights for same-sex couples.

If accurate (and every poll is susceptible to some error) this would mark a pretty dramatic swing in public opinion. And if you think about it, a lot has happened in the past two years to shape public opinion more favorably toward equal rights for same-sex couples.

Michigan passed its constitutional amendment at what seemed like the tail end of the national haste to “protect” marriage through referenda. Since then, several other states have actually embraced gay marriage – New Hampshire and Iowa, hardly bastions of liberalism, being the latest. New Hampshire, with its traditional libertarian leanings, is a particularly notable example, as it suggests that support for gay marriage may be picking up steam on the backs of factions other than traditional left-wing constituencies.

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Polls show Pa. resisting tide favoring gay marriage

ONE OF the big political stories of 2009 has been the surge in American public approval for gay marriage and the growing number of states – including the heartland bastion of Iowa – that have legalized the practice, but here in Pennsylvania the pages of this political thriller are still blank.

Even as the neighboring states of New York and New Jersey seem to be racing to legalize gay marriage, perhaps as early as this year, advocates for gay rights in Pennsylvania find themselves still locked in a defensive posture. Indeed, Republican state Sen. John Eichelberger, of Blair County, intends today to introduce an amendment to the state constitution aimed at blocking any courts from approving same-sex marriage in the Keystone State.

“Clearly, Pennsylvania is among Alabama and Mississippi in terms of gay rights,” said Malcolm Lazin, the executive director of the Equality Forum, the gay-rights-advocacy group based in Philadelphia.

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Polls show Pa. resisting tide favoring gay marriage

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‘HomoRadio’ gives voice and support to Capital Region’s gay community

In 1994, Sean McLaughlin was a 15-year-old who hadn’t yet revealed to his friends and family he was gay. Although he felt alone, every Sunday he could sneak up to his bedroom, put on headphones and listen to “HomoRadio.” “Listening to the program connected me to the gay community, kept me abreast on news and gave me a lot of information,” said McLaughlin, 29. It also gave him the strength to come out to his parents and friends, and to find his place in the world. He has hosted the program for the past 11 years.

“HomoRadio” has been a bastion of the Capital Region’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community for 16 years. It stands as a rallying point for gay rights, which often seem to be under attack.

In November, for example, the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which denied same-sex couples the right to marry, spurred the gay-rights movement to action. And “HomoRadio” was there, calling for California, New York and other states to recognize the rights of gays by allowing same-sex marriage.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Sunday, the show on WRPI features activists, performers and organizers. McLaughlin often chats about the serious and silly with co-hosts Ray Werking, Heidi Davis, Ulysses D’Armis and Joe Laux. See ‘HomoRadio’ gives voice and support to Capital Region’s gay community
Albany Times Union, NY