Unfortunately, the GOP effort to get an anti-gay constitutional amendment measure on the Florida November ballot has succeeded and once more gay bashing is being used as a disgusting vehicle to work to turn out the fundie vote so that the GOP can win Florida's electoral votes. What I find so disgusting is (1) the mentality that will allow these Republicans to cynically use gays as targets in order to win at any cost and (2) the fact that the Christianist voters are such morons that they do not even understand that they are being cynically and systematically used. Once again, as more and more jurisdictions around the world are marching forward and legislating equality, the USA continues its march backwards with bigotry and hate. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/02/020208fla.htm):
(Tallahassee, Florida) Florida LGBT civil rights groups said Saturday they will mount an aggressive campaign to defeat a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage. The state Division of Elections late Friday announced that an umbrella group pushing the amendment had collected more than 611,000 signatures to have the issue placed on the November ballot. Two weeks ago the fate of the ballot petition was in doubt when the state said that a tabulation error in Dade County meant the group was 20,000 names short.
The amendment says, "Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Opponents of the proposed amendment say it would bar civil unions and would be used to deny partner benefits not only to same-sex couples but also to unmarried couples who live together.
An investigation by the St. Petersburg Times into funding for the Florida4Marriage has found that of the $193,000 that had been raised by the group $150,000 came from a single donor - the Florida Republican Party. . . . a constitutional amendment in Florida has a higher bar than in most states. It must be approved by 60 percent of voters.
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