Source: Orlando Sentinel and Huffington Post
TALLAHASSEE, Fla -- Florida residents will vote in November on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, state officials announced late Friday.
The signature-petition drive launched three years ago by social-conservative groups managed to beat Friday's deadline to make the presidential-election ballot, the state Division of Elections said.
The group pushing the ban collected more than 649,000 signatures -- well over the 611,000 required to place a citizens' initiative before voters statewide.
"I'm just grateful to God first and our supporters second," said John Stemberger, who led the Orlando-based Florida4Marriage group that frantically collected 92,000 signatures during the past 13 days. "It's an amazing victory. What our people did was simply remarkable."
Jon Kislak, chairman of the Florida Red and Blue group planning to fight the amendment, said he was "confident that voters will reject this amendment once they learn it can take away existing rights and benefits from millions of Floridians."
Last month, both groups were blindsided when they were told thousands of voter signatures had accidentally been double-counted thanks to a glitch in the software that county election supervisors use to transmit their counts to the state.
As a result, Florida4Marriage found itself more than 20,000 signatures short of the number needed. About 27,000 signatures coming out of Miami-Dade County alone had been electronically reported twice to the state.
The foul-up prompted the state to scrap its new electronic signature-verification process and set off an eleventh-hour drive by Florida4Marriage and Hometown Democracy to try to make up the lost ground.
"To me, it just shows real momentum for the proposition that marriage is a union between a man and a woman," Stemberger said.
Conservatives celebrated the fact that the amendment might lure Republicans and evangelicals to the polls in November and indicated it would become an issue in the presidential race. The Republican Party, however, said it was not giving financial help to the Liberty Council nor its offshoot, Florida4Marriage.
Opponents immediately said they would wage an all-out campaign to defeat the amendment. "There are still those out there who would like to take away personal liberties," said Stephen Gaskill, spokesperson for Florida Red and Blue. He said that his group is certain "Floridians don't want government this deeply involved in their personal lives."
Kislak explained that supporters of the "so-called Marriage Protection Amendment" have been collecting signatures for four years and asked that the various Supervisors of Elections take all actions to ensure that every signature certified is valid.
"We are not surprised to learn this amendment will come before voters this year. From the beginning, Florida Red and Blue has been preparing to tell the truth about this amendment and the damage it will do to Floridians," Kislak said.
"That has not changed - we are already busy collecting the resources and building the campaign it will take to defeat this dangerous amendment. We remain confident that voters will reject this amendment once they learn it can take away existing rights and benefits from millions of Floridians. The benefits put at risk by this amendment include the loss of shared health care and pensions and the elimination of hospital visitation rights between unmarried Floridians."
Kislak added, "Floridians feel the state has more important things to do than create another government intrusion into our private lives."
Gaskill noted that the amendment would not only affect gay citizens but also deprive singles and seniors who are in relationships of health benefits, insurance and other entitlements.
Full article: Florida to vote on gay marriage ban amendment -- OrlandoSentinel.com
It's War Say Opponents To FL Anti-Gay Ballot Initiative | Huffington Post