Floridians to vote in 2008 on banning same-sex marriages

[Patsy Stone]

By Mark Hollis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Tallahassee Bureau
Posted March 24 2006

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-fmarriage24mar24,0,6284943.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

TALLAHASSEE · Florida plunged into an emotional civil-rights battle Thursday when the Florida Supreme Court agreed to allow a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to go on the 2008 ballot.

The seven justices unanimously ruled that a one-sentence proposal to limit marriage in Florida to unions between a man and a woman meets requirements that citizen initiatives cover just one subject and contain a clear and unambiguous ballot summary.

Backers still must collect tens of thousands more signatures, but they insist that with two years to collect the petitions and state Supreme Court clearance out of the way, the ban on gay weddings will have little trouble going to voters in 2008.

Sponsors, and some political experts, believe that the ensuing debate over whether gays and lesbians can legally wed in Florida may turn out large numbers of social conservatives and Republicans to vote on the same ballot in which they will decide a crucial presidential election.

[xultar]

1. Michael Scanlon, former DeLay Aide and Abramoff Buddy...

"Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees," - Michael Scanlon, former DeLay Aide and Abramoff Buddy

[Patsy Stone]

2. That's right.

It's all the same playbook. They couldn't actually get their act together in time for 2006, so there's a chance a Dem will be elected governor. But, for 2008, when they're gonna need Florida once again, bam!

[Rosemary2205]

3. Yep

Selection time - time to whip out the homo haters.

[FatDave]

4. Wow, didn't see that coming.

:sarcasm:

[B Calm]

5. I'm so sick of republican wedge issues. Don't they have anything

other than wedge issues to get people to vote for them?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

6. So. What are the Democrats going to do? Why don't they put something

on the ballot?

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[OneBlueSky]

7. well, given how voting works in Florida . . .

we all know how THAT one will turn out, now don't we . . .

[RagingInMiami]

8. Call me an optimist

But barring election fraud, I'm thinking this issue might backfire on the republicans by 2008 in this state. A recent survey showed that less and less Americans are against gay marriage.

And Florida, in its most extreme manner, is a microcosm of the U.S. And it is getting more progressive with each passing day.

Don't let the Terri Schiavo fiasco fool you. This is not Utah. This is a state that has been hijacked by the Bush family.

Sure there will be that vocal minority that always comes out for these "moral" issues. But there will also be that silent majority, whether they be democrat, independent and even republican, that just wants to live and let live.

And by 2008, there will be thousands of new voters who will be of legal age to vote. And these young people will be much more tolerant of gay issues.

[Patsy Stone]

9. I hope you're right

as a resident of Miami Beach, I know how we're gonna vote, but I'm not so sure about Ocala. :) Your point did cross my mind because I, too, think by 2008 same-sex marriage amendments will be quite passe.

[RagingInMiami]

10. Fortunately, the population of the City of Miami Beach alone

is double the population of Ocala.