A defeat onward gay marriage in California raises questions about by what means to handle the issue The battle was always an uphill united but when the votes were judgeed just how tough the fight was became clear.

A defeat onward gay marriage in California raises questions about by what means to handle the issue

The battle was always an uphill united but when the votes were judgeed just how tough the fight was became clear. upon March 7, 61% of voter in California approved Proposition 22 a measure limiting recognition of marriage to unions between a man and a woman. The measure, known as the Knight initiative (after its sponsor, state senator Pete Knight), could pave the way for a of recent origin rash of antigay ballot measures and raises hard questions about the visibility of gays and lesbians in electoral battles throughout gay issues.

"Certainly it's fair to say that we're extremely disappointed at the significant margin of victory for Proposition 22" says Kate Kendell codirector of the No onward Knight campaign, the group formed to thwart the initiative. "Viewed in the worst light, it have the appearances clear that a significant majority of California voter do not believe that lesbians and gay men are entitled to equality and legal recognition of our relationships."

The magnitude of the los in California was comparable to the originates for 1998 electoral referenda in succession gay marriage in Hawaii and Alaska. In all three cases the public set asideed gay marriage by wide margins. Indeed, in California, support for the Knight initiative wound across almost all demographic lines, including race, income, and gender

"We had awaited to do better among women and Democrats, and that just didn't happen," says Kendell In the same of the few positive signs to arrive out of the landslide, voter in a less degree than the age of 30 decisively discarded the initiative. "When the under-30 voter are in a position of power in 20 years, this isn't going to be an issue anymore," says Kendell who is also executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a legal collection "If we can just hang upon long enough, the right to marry is achievable." In addition, several San Francisco Bay area counties were the no other than ones in the state to cast away the measure outright.

The margin of los have the appearanceed the result of a meeting of events, some of which were outside the manage of the No on Knight campaign. Campaign organizers had been counting onward a tight race between Democratic presidential candidates Bill Bradley and Al Gore to enticement Democrats to the polls, Democrats being more likely to combat the measure. Instead, as Bradley's campaign waned, the Republican match between Sen John McCain and Texas governor George W Bush heated up Exit catalogue of personss showed that Republicans supported the Knight initiative from a margin of 6-1.

Moreover, the week before the election, McCain attacked the "evil" influence of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in the Republican Party. Although McCain later backed down from his remarks, religious conservatives useed out in force to consecrated by a vow against him.

"That singular fit of pique by way of McCain did more to fixed the margin of victory for Proposition 22 than anything else" says Kendell "After he did that, the radical Christian right decided to pendant 3 million voter guides the Sunday before the election."

However, near activists complainedthat the campaign failed to capitalize forward opportunities to portray supporters of the measure as extremists. Among those bankrolling the Knight initiative was Howard Ahmanson, who has been a major force in California right-wing politics. He one time served on the board of a religious-right collection whose founder advocates the death penalty for homosexuality.

"I recommended that they need to bring abroad the fact that not solitary does Ahmanson not want to view homosexuals marry, but he wants to kill them," says Jerry Sloan, head of plot Tocsin, a group in Sacramento that monitors the religious right. "The No upon Knight people didn't want to talk about it."

Sloan and other activists also argue that the campaign against the measure largely avoided gay relationships in particular and gay issues in general, focusing instead forward the argument that the measure was divisive and unnecessary. In fact, near ads emphasized that since gay marriage is not legal anywhere, voter had nothing to worry about--a message that a certain quantity of activists felt reinforced the idea that gay marriage is a threat. As a rise the public did not obtain to see gay couples talking about their relationships, which could have helped educate the public in the lengthy run.

Kendell acknowledges that campaign strategists debated just what tack to take in their efforts. "Certainly that was part of our internal dialogue for those of us forward the board," she says. "It's important for us to remember that when we made the decisions around the approval of the message, individuals showed we were within striking distance. All I can say, from the bottom of my heart, is [that] those of us making these decisions did the excessively best we could, based forward the information we had."

The fight through the whole extent of Proposition 22 is likely to lead to coming time skirmishes. Conservatives in California are talking about another ballot measure this fall to repeal domestic-partnership legislation for state workers, signed into law last year by dint of Gov. Gray Davis. In neighboring Nevada the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage is pushing a measure similar to Proposition 22 Meanwhile, the debate athwart gay marriage continues in Vermont where the state paramount court ruled in December that the state legislature must grant gay twos the same rights as married pairs On Town Meeting Day, held the same day as the California election, voter in more than 50 towns were asked their opinion onward gay marriage. In not a single town did a majority approve of it.