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Not Going Away
CAP remains intent on pushing a ban on same-sex marriage through the Legislature
By Luis Garcia
PHOENIX — Now that Arizona lawmakers have found a temporary solution for the state budget woes, elected officials are being pressured to put a proposition on the ballot in November to change the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, which is already illegal under existing Arizona law.
According to Equality Arizona, Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod has deployed her entire arsenal to pressure lawmakers to vote in favor of SCR 1042.
SCR 1042 is the second attempt by CAP to put the initiative on the ballot. It failed once this legislative session when HCR 2086 was amended, with the leadership of Rep. CONTACT _Con-42D3E89E163 \c \s \l Kyrsten Sinema, to include the creation of domestic partnerships.
Shortly after lawmakers voted down the resolution, the House Judiciary Committee amended SCR 1042, a bill that would have established a Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Day, to strike everything and replace it with the marriage amendment language.
Sinema told Echo that SCR 1042 was an attempt by the Republican leadership to "erase" the votes of a bill that had already been decided on.
“In their attempt to overrule the real feelings of Arizonans, they've shown that they're out of touch with Arizona,” Sinema said. “What we legislators should be doing is solving our budget crisis, and dealing with the important issues facing our state like education, health care and immigration.”
On April 22, the Arizona House of Representatives, acting as the Committee of the Whole, moved SCR 1042 forward, passing a preliminary vote to send it to the state senate where it will go through the same process. It is expected to easily pass, thanks to the Republican majority in the senate.
As news broke of the passage of SCR 1042 in the Arizona House, leaders of the GLBT community scrambled to counter the anti-gay legislation by attempting to place the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on the ballot along with the marriage amendment.
“I see ENDA as serving two purposes this year,” Sinema said. “To decrease the intensity of the marriage ballot question, making it more likely that I will either be defeated or at least pass with less support and gaining a decisive victory for our community, showing our strength and teaching the right to leave us alone.”
According to Sinema, the ENDA petition drive has collected over 20,000 signatures, thanks in part to volunteers at Phoenix Pride and Petition Partners, the only incorporated, full-time and full-service petitioning firm in Arizona, but they need more.
In order to help pay Petition Partners to gather more signatures, Free to Work Arizona has been established to collect much needed donations from the GLBT community and their allies.
To donate to Free to Work Arizona, contact Cynthia Lewis at cl_lewis@msn.com.
Reach the reporter at reporter@echomag.com.
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