If you are in Florida or have contacts in Florida, please read.

[Pacifist Patriot]

As you probably know, the far right is ramping up their anti-gay distraction / voter mobilization. This time with gay adoption. Florida is the only state with a state that unequivocally prohibits gay adoption. It's been on our books since 1977. Thank you Anita Bryant.

Gay couples can be foster parents, a recent Foster Parent's Of The Year Award went to a gay couple in this state. But they cannot adopt. Gays typically adopt a higher percentage of marginalized children. The disturbed, older, HIV positive, minorities, etc... But the far right homophobes would prefer to have this children languish in state care rather than placed in a loving caring family. You'd think the tax hit to support these children would appeal to them but apparently hatred trumps their wallets in some cases.

A move to amend the law (but unfortunately not repeal it completely) was tabled during the last legislative session but is coming up again in March. Floridians are encouraged to contact committee members with their views. Florida Senate Committee on Children and Families http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=committees&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=committees/senate/cf/


Florida4Marriage.org launched a campaign to amend the Florida constitution but did not get enough signatures in time for the 2006 ballot. However, their signatures are good until 2008. They will most likely do a full court press at that time. The wording of the amendment is as follows:

Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husbandand wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.

The first part refers to the Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage in the state of Florida in this way. But the law is vulnerable to judicial review in terms of constitutionality unless this amendment makes it in to our state constitution. This amendment takes things a step further however. It would render civil unions, domestic partnership benefits and perhaps even common law marriages illegal. Companies offering domestic partnership benefits would be able to use this clause to dispense with those benefits if they find they need to cut costs or could very well be pushed into discontinuing such benefits. Areas such as Key West and Miami-Dade have domestic partnership registries and these would become null and void.

The Fairness For All Families Coalition is in the process of identifying voters who oppose such discrimination. They have started a petition drive (non-legally binding, simply a statement of GLBT support in the voting booth in the future) by May 1. This petition states:

We the undersigned, pledge to vote against any constitutional amendment that permanently blocks marriage and civil unions for same sex partners in Florida and threatens domestic partnership protections currently enjoyed in the State. All families, including same-sex families, deserve equal access to the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

Anyone who signs the petition will receive email updates (not bombarded, just when a milestone occurs) about the issue and will receive a voters guide in the mail before Election Day.

Here are websites for more information about how you can help.

Equality Florida http://www.eqfl.org/index.php
Fairness For All Families http://www.fairnessforallfamilies.org/

Thanks!

[stop the bleeding]

1. signed and nomintated n/t

[flpoljunkie]

2. SPTimes reports today R's sink another $150K to antigay marriage iniative

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/24/State/State_GOP_sinks_150_0.shtml

State GOP sinks $150,000 more into antigay marriage initiative

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published February 24, 2006

Determined to get a gay marriage ban on the ballot for Florida voters, the state Republican Party has doubled its initial investment in the effort to $300,000.

State Senate President Tom Lee said the additional $150,000 came after Florida4marriage.org, the political committee working to amend the state Constitution, failed to get enough signatures in time to qualify for the 2006 ballot.

Lee, R-Valrico, said he embraced the extra $150,000 donation because Florida4Marriage still wants to get the measure on the ballot in 2008.

"I supported it because I know it's an important issue to Republicans. I know it may not be more important than tax cuts, it may not be more important than property rights or whatever, but it is an element, just as the sanctity of life issues are an element of importance of our party," Lee said. He noted that lawmakers in 2005 spent days debating whether to try to force feeding tubes back into Terri Schiavo.

State Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski had a different take: "It looks like they're afraid they can't win on the issues that actually matter to Floridians - issues like port security, offshore drilling, prescription drugs and class size reduction," he said.

more...

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. From what I was told at a meeting last night...

They only raised approximately $30,000 aside from GOP contributions. Equality Florida ran a private poll awhile back and learned that Floridians are split roughly in half on the marriage issue but support goes up for civil unions and up further for domestic partnership benefits.