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CHRIS JOHNSON
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
DENVER
—
Certification
ensuring
that
an
initiative
prohibiting
gay
couples
from
adopting
in
Arkansas
will
appear
on
the
state
ballot
this
November
has
one
gay
delegate
from
Arkansas
fired
up.
Thurman
Metcalf,
a
cosmetologist
and
political
health
care
advocate,
told
the
Blade
during
the
Democratic
National
Convention
that
the
measure
is
“another
attempt
by
right-wing
Arkansans
to
control
people's
lives”
and
said
“it's
going
to
end
up
with
more
children
not
being
adopted.”
“The
right-wing
people
don't
want
to
adopt
these
handicapped
children,
they
just
want
to
fight
everything
that's
progressive
in
Arkansas,”
he
said.
On
Monday,
Arkansas
Secretary
of
State
Charlie
Daniels
announced
that
the
Family
Council,
a
conservative
group
in
the
state,
collected
enough
signatures
to
get
the
measure
on
the
ballot.
The
group
had
more
than
85,000
signatures
and
about
62,000
were
required.
The
measure
does
not
explicitly
mention
gays
but
is
seen
as
targeting
gay
couples.
The
certification
means
that
the
initiative
will
join
proposed
anti-gay
amendments
this
fall
on
state
ballots
in
California,
Arizona
and
Florida.
The
initiatives
on
those
ballots
would
prohibit
same-sex
marriage.
Metcalf
said
he
plans
to
“work
very
hard
to
end
this
amendment”
and
said
he
expects
the
Democratic
Party
to
oppose
the
measure.
The
delegate
said
the
Arkansas
courts
should
throw
out
the
measure
but
probably
won't
because
“the
right-wing
conservatives
control
so
much”
in
the
state.
Metcalf
said
educating
Arkansas
residents
will
be
necessary
to
defeat
the
initiative.
He
said
the
measure
would
interfere
will
how
grandparents
“live
with
other
adults
so
they
don't
lose
their
Social
Security.”
“So
it's
very,
very,
very
discriminating,”
he
said.
The
Associated
Press
reported
that
Arkansas
Families
First,
a
group
campaigning
against
the
measure,
plans
to
file
a
lawsuit
to
keep
the
measure
from
appearing
on
the
November
ballot
on
the
grounds
that
the
measure
is
unconstitutional
and
some
petition
signatures
are
invalid.
The
recently
certified
initiative
in
Arkansas
and
amendments
banning
same-sex
marriage
in
California,
Arizona
and
Florida
were
hot
topics
among
gay
delegates
at
the
convention.
During
the
gay
caucus
meeting
Monday,
Arizona
State
Del.
Kyrsten
Sinema
(D),
a
bisexual
and
delegate
at
the
convention,
and
Shannon
Minter,
legal
director
for
the
National
Center
of
Lesbian
Rights,
urged
delegates
to
work
together
to
defeat
the
initiatives.
Sinema
noted
that
in
2006,
Arizona
defeated
an
earlier
version
of
an
amendment
banning
same-sex
marriage
that
included
more
restrictive
language
than
the
initiative
currently
facing
the
state.
The
failure
of
the
amendment
was
the
first
time
a
state
constitutional
amendment
banning
same-sex
marriage
failed
at
the
polls.
The
delegate
said
Arizona
rejected
the
2006
amendment
because
opponents
of
the
measure
had
“three
'M's”:
message,
messengers
and
money.
Sinema
said
marriage
amendments
could
be
defeated
in
any
state
throughout
the
country
by
using
these
“three
'M's.”
For
message,
Sinema
said
Arizona
activists
“learned
how
to
research
and
find
the
messages”
to
persuade
swing
voters
to
join
with
same-sex
marriage
supporters
to
defeat
the
amendment.
As
far
as
messengers,
Sinema
asked
gay
delegates
to
return
home
and
talk
about
how
the
measures
would
be
detrimental
to
their
families.
Sinema
called
money
her
most
important
“M”
because
it's
necessary
to
exceed
the
finances
that
anti-gay
groups
“have
enjoyed
over
the
years.”
“The
truth
is,
that
just
outside
these
doors,
the
radical
right
is
scared
to
hell
about
the
people
in
this
room,”
Sinema
said.
“And
because
they
are
scared
of
you,
and
me,
and
all
of
us
in
this
room,
they
will
fight
tooth-and-nail
to
keep
what
they
have
and
keep
you
from
getting
what
you
deserve.”
Minter
spoke
about
the
amendment
banning
same-sex
marriage
in
California,
known
as
Proposition
8.
He
said
the
gay
community
must
have
“leadership
and
unequivocal
support”
to
defeat
the
California
initiative.
“It
is
intended
to
take
away
our
dignity,
to
take
away
our
hope,
to
put
us
back
into
our
place
as
second-class
citizens,”
he
said.
“Make
no
mistake,
the
political
stakes
for
our
community
in
California
could
not
possibly
be
higher.”
In
an
interview
with
the
Blade
following
the
caucus,
Sinema
said
she
thinks
the
fate
of
all
three
marriage
amendments
facing
different
states
this
fall
“are
all
intertwined.”
Sinema
said
the
poll
numbers
on
the
Arizona
amendment
“are
looking
better
than
they
ever
had
before”
because
Arizona
residents
have
seen
gay
couples
getting
married
in
California
for
a
couple
of
months.
“We
have
a
duty
as
a
community
to
do
a
trifecta
and
win
all
three,”
she
said.
“I
think
a
loss
in
any
of
those
states
will
have
a
long
lasting
negative
impact
on
our
community.”
Sinema
denied
that
campaigns
against
these
measures
in
different
states
were
competing
with
resources
from
the
gay
community.
“I
think
that's
people
who
just
want
some
salacious
story,
I'll
be
honest,”
she
said.
In
July,
Stephen
Gaskill,
then-spokesperson
for
Florida
Red
and
Blue,
said
the
situation
in
California
has
made
fundraising
more
of
a
challenge
in
Florida
and
said
“if
the
California
effort
was
not
underway,
it
would
be
easier
for
Florida
to
raise
money.”
A
number
of
other
gay
delegates
at
the
convention
said
the
fate
of
Proposition
8
was
important
to
them,
even
delegates
who
don't
live
in
California.
Mike
Nelson,
a
delegate
from
North
Carolina
and
member
of
the
Orange
County
Board
of
Commissioners,
said
“there
are
nationwide
implications”
for
the
California
amendment.
“Most
of
us
in
the
South
are
looking
to
the
states
outside
of
the
South
like
California
and
Massachusetts
to
lead
the
way,”
he
said.
“We're
counting
on
the
people
of
California
to
do
the
right
thing.”
Carla
“K.C.”
Hanson,
a
lesbian
delegate
from
Oregon
and
automobile
painter,
also
said
Proposition
8
has
implications
for
the
rest
of
the
country.
“If
the
anti-gay
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