Two anti-marriage equality efforts go down

by: Adam Bink

Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 17:30

Some good news from out in the states following the Hawaii House's defeat of a civil unions bill.

In New Hampshire, the House Judiciary committee voted to kill an effort to reverse the state's same-sex marriage law that the legislature passed and Gov. Lynch signed last year. It also voted down a call for a public vote on the issue.

In Iowa, where a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality would have to be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions before being voted on by the public (several years from now), two "discharge petition"-type efforts failed this morning to pull a constitutional amendment out of committee in both houses of the legislature. The measure, like a discharge petition in the U.S. House of Representatives, would have required a majority number of signatures to pull the bill out of committee. As OpenLefter desmoinesdem reported at Bleeding Heartland yesterday, 62% of Iowans think the legislature should focus on issues other than marriage equality.

The one other thing I do want to note is that in the House, all 44 Republicans voted for the petition but only one Democrat supported it, while in the Senate, all 18 Republicans voted for the petition along with only one Democrat out of 32. Like in New York State, a high percentage of the Democratic caucus voted to support marriage equality, while nearly 100% of the GOP caucus voted against it, so hopefully more of the "this is all the Democrats' fault"-type rhetoric that focuses on parties rather than legislators- which I criticized here- on this issue dies down some more, and folks learn to focus on targeting legislators, not parties. Of course, I don't expect to hear "yay for the Democrats" after these wins, since "the Democrats" kept this from succeeding, but perhaps I should. Sometimes it seems folks are content to blame "the Democrats" after losses but refuse to laud them after wins. Funny thing.

As Joe Mirabella noted last month, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the GOP presidential primaries in both early states come 2012.

All in all, good news, and kudos to a number of activists in both states.

Adam Bink :: Two anti-marriage equality efforts go down

Tags: LGBT movement, marriage equality, New Hampshire marriage equality, Iowa marriage equality, (All Tags)

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Two anti-marriage equality efforts go down | 7 comments

kudos to the dems! (0.00 / 0)

I wish I could say that more

by: The Big Hurt @ Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 17:29:12 PM CST

by: you @ soon

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Am I the only one who sees a potential backlash from state legislatures denying people a referendum? (0.00 / 0)

Of course, I generally don't think human rights should be so easily changed by the whims of The People, but I can imagine a huge uproar over politicians denying their constituents a chance to vote.

by: liberalmaverick @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 02:58:38 AM CST

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There is little evidence of this (0.00 / 0)

The vast bulk of public issues are settled without putting it to the voters directly. Generally speaking, people either support marriage equality or they don't - they might be persuadable, but I don't see any reason to believe they are driven by procedural issues.

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by: David Kaib @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 12:22:11 PM CST

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Well, okay (0.00 / 0)

I can just see the Elizabeth Hasselbeck-types coming out and screaming about how The People should get to decide on others' rights.

by: liberalmaverick @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 19:04:57 PM CST

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Oh, you are right about that (0.00 / 0)

There will be high profile people who squeal about this. But I don't think that, rather than the substance, will drive public opinion on it.

Support a Pennsylvania Progressive for Governor - Joe Hoeffel

by: David Kaib @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 22:33:15 PM CST

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What's the best resource (0.00 / 0)

for finding more about the current status of marriage equality in the states? Given your point that the issue is candidates rather than parties, is there any effort to support candidates at the state level for contested nominations based on marriage equality?

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by: David Kaib @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 12:31:49 PM CST

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Good questions (0.00 / 0)

I've found that Freedom to Marry has the best resource re states (here).

Regarding candidates, a number of folks, myself included, have engaged in some efforts to find pro-marriage equality candidates individually. I've been focusing my efforts on New York State. Here's an update I did on that effort awhile back, and I'll have another update on a different contested race in the state very soon. There have also been some positive discussions around infrastructure-building to do this the way PACs do. Lastly, a number of traditional LGBT organizations find and promote candidates based on LGBT issues, but that can include Republicans.

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by: Adam Bink @ Wed Feb 10, 2010 at 14:45:08 PM CST

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Two anti-marriage equality efforts go down | 7 comments

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