Kentucky Fairness Alliance E-News, Fall 2008

National Roundup

Arizona
Voters approved Proposition 102, a constitutional amendment specifically denying the right to marry to same sex couples. Equality Arizona has launched a petition drive to Take Back Arizona and and hosted a community Town Hall meeting on December 6th to discuss ongoing efforts to achieve full equality in the state.

Arkansas
Voters approved Act 1, a measure that bans all unmarried couples – gay or straight – from serving as foster or adoptive parents in Arkansas . Federation member group Center for Artistic Revolution is already at work to organize and educate fair-minded Arkansans about the true victims of this new law: the children of Arkansas .

California
Voters amended the state’s constitution to take away the right of same-sex couples to marry by passing Proposition 8. Equality California has already joined with allies to file litigation challenging the new law, which creates an exception to the state’s constitutional guarantee of equal protection. Despite the heartbreaking ballot measure loss, Equality California’s PAC was extremely successful, helping protect the seats of pro-equality incumbents and electing new pro-equality supporters for a state legislature that is solidly supportive of LGBT equality across the board.

Prop 8 The Musical sums it up best...

Connecticut
In the final weeks before Election Day, Connecticut ’s state supreme court issued a ruling requiring that marriage equality be extended to same-sex couples in Connecticut. On Election Day, Love Makes a Family helped defeat a ballot measure calling for a constitutional convention, which would have given anti-gay bigots an opportunity to try to overturn that decision. This was the LGBT movement’s one big ballot measure win this year. On November 12, same-sex couples began marrying in Connecticut . In candidate news, Connecticut also re-elected its first openly-gay African American state representative, Jason Bartlett, in a closely fought race.

Florida
Despite a hard-fought contest, voters in Florida approved Amendment 2, ensuring that their state constitution would ban marriage equality for same-sex couples. But not all the news from Florida was disappointing: Equality Florida elected 80% of candidates endorsed by its PAC. Two counties elected their first openly lgbt County Commissioners . An openly gay mayor and two openly gay city commissioners were elected in Broward County .