Ohio Gay-Marriage Push Divides Some Advocates

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Supporters of same-sex marriage have had many victories in recent years, in courts, in state legislatures and at the ballot box.

Yet one prize has remained elusive: a reversal by voters in one of the 29 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, with constitutional bans on same-sex marriage.

Activists in Ohio want to see those dominoes start to fall here, and they say they have gathered the signatures for a ballot measure to repeal an amendment adopted by 62 percent of voters in 2004. They point to a tidal shift in public opinion and hope to grasp the symbolism of voters’ flipping Ohio a decade after the Republican Party used ballot measures opposing same-sex marriage to drive conservatives to the polls and help re-elect President George W. Bush.

“All the facts show 2014 is not the year,” said Michael Premo, campaign manager of a coalition, Why Marriage Matters Ohio, that opposes the vote. “If this amendment goes forward and fails, which we expect it will, it will be a boost in momentum for opponents of marriage equality.”

The split indicates that while the conservative push to ban same-sex marriage has run its course, gay rights advocates are exhausting sympathetic states in which to run campaigns in the short term. Voters in three Democratic-leaning states adopted measures to legalize same-sex marriage in 2012.





Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/us/politics/ohio-gay-marriage-push-divides-some-advocates.html?hpw&rref=us

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What does everyone here think? National gay rights groups have had a pretty good record on strategy. Are they right this time?

[closeupready]

1. I don't trust many of these special interest groups who claim

to serve the interests of minority groups like gay people, but instead seem to exist solely to perpetuate inflated salaries which they'd never get in the private sector, and hosting tax-deductible champagne-and-lobster fundraising extravaganzas.

Having said that, I know NOTHING about Why Marriage Matters Ohio, but if I were gay in Ohio and wanted to marry my romantic partner, I'd probably not put my personal affairs in the hands of a special interest group.

[AverageMe]

2. Bad Timing

This is a Republican year, young people don't vote in off year elections, and many ethnic groups are not really as motivated to vote as they are in a presidential year.

[closeupready]

3. And now that federal judges are almost uniformly finding unconstitutional

these laws and amendments banning same-sex marriage (today, Texas), why would ANYONE listen to this special interest group, rather than challenge the ban in court?

On the other hand, maybe the subtext here is just that - don't bother repealing amendments; rather, challenge them on constitutional grounds.