For Arizona, Three’s a Crowd

My wife and I are Californians, and although we're pretty much tapped out for the moment by the battle to defeat Proposition 8 here, we made two monetary donations today to Arizona's No On 102 campaign. The battle in California is _the_ battle of _all_ our lives, as it will have enormous repercussions throughout the nation. But we are all in this together -- and we could not live with ourselves if we didn't do what we could to support our brothers and sisters in Arizona. Please join my wife and me in contributing to defeat _both_ Proposition 8 and Proposition 102.

I'm from Kansas and we will get marriage equality the day after Sam Brownback, Todd Tihart, and Fred Phelps dress in drag. Honestly, marriage is not for my partner and I but we do believe that a CIVIL ceremony is not to be denied and CITIZEN of any state.We went throught a very expensive set of legal procedures to set iron clad confirmation of our desires as to health, property and what our families could and could not do (Trust Fund). We still need to fight for equality everywhere and expose those who oppose for who they are. We need to act to block funding of ANY kid to any company or organization operating in our state who openly discriminates and we need to get school boards to add sexual orientation and gender identification to all policies on harrassment, bullying, or discrimination.

I'm from Arizona, and there is some dirty politics behind this. Several months before this was put on the ballot, the state house and senate rejected putting it on the ballot. This is looking like a Democratic year, and the local state Repubs knew that if they put this on the ballot it would mobilize their voters. They don't really care if it passes, as long as they win their reelection campaigns, in what is likely to be a strong Democratic year, in a state that is becoming increasingly Democratic.

California is very important fight because it's a liberal state and the CA Supreme Court has already ruled that marriage is legal here. Arizona on the other hand is a conservative state and in my opinion, gay rights is a losing cause there...I have never been able to figure out why any GLBT folks would want to live in a conservative place like Arizona. I personally don't see what the draw to Arizona is from the visits I have made to Phoenix and Scottsdale......HOT and CONSERVATIVE.

Your article didn't mention that McCain has been outspoken in favor of Arizona amending their constituion to ban same sex marriage, and his V.P. choice is an advocate of Alaska's same sex marriage constitutional ban. Like Bush, McCain has vowed that if elected president, gays/lesbians will continue to be second class citizens by paying taxes yet not having equal rights to serve openly in the US military, be Boy Scouts and Boy Scout leaders, marry, adopt children, enact laws protecting gay/lesbian students in schools, or see hate crime or equal rights legislation. Obama has vowed the opposite, including getting rid of DOMA, which would permit gays/lesbians who are legally married in some US states to receive federal marriage benefits. Our choice is clear.