Battle over
same-sex marriage heat ups in Florida

Supporters of same-sex marriage are gearing up with a campaign to make Florida's marriage laws gay-friendly while a Wednesday deadline looms for opponents to file a ballot measure that would prevent marriage equality. The Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage has been passing around a flurry of petitions to try to meet its deadline to get enough signatures to force a proposed constitutional amendment onto Florida's 2008 ballot. Meanwhile, a Florida gay rights group has begun a campaign to educate voters about the upcoming ballot measure. Equality Florida officials say the antimarriage coalition is finding the signature-gathering process is not so easy. Still, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Equality Florida leaders believe the antigay organizers are likely to get enough signatures by the deadline, so in response, the gay group is preparing its own campaign, called FairnessForAllFamilies.org, to oppose the amendment. Equality Florida officials think the majority of Floridians approve of same-sex unions: A poll the group commissioned last year found 55 percent of state residents favored "legal domestic partnerships" that would provide gay and lesbian couples the same benefits, such as health insurance, that married heterosexuals get. (Sirius OutQ News)