Wisconsin Marriage Amendment

My home state will vote this fall on their "Marriage" Amendment. Saw this article at Raw Story.


Just Say No Katie McKy - Raw Story Columnist

There's a fight scheduled in Wisconsin on November 7th, 2006. On that day, we Wisconsinites will square off, Left versus Right, decency versus tradition. We will decide if all citizens are equal, or if some citizens are more equal than others. Yeah, we're going to vote on a marriage amendment...and more. Here's the amendment:

"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."

In the Left corner, looking cool in blue, is Mike Tate. Tate is the campaign manager for Fair Wisconsin.

Tate says, "I've always felt that this is a state where everyone gets a fair shake. This is too important to not become involved. If you'd told me 2 years ago that this is what I'd be doing, I wouldn't have believed you, but I believe that it's the civil rights fight of my generation."

As Tate is straight, young, and male, it might not seem to be his fight, but he knows something about Wisconsin history, which leads to the historical context.

"There's a strong Libertarian streak in Wisconsin. People make sure that government isn't inhibiting people from living their lives. Over 20 percent of Wisconsin has been represented by an openly gay representative. Steve Gunderson and Tammy Baldwin were both reelected as gay people. A lot don't know anyone that's gay and they might be uncomfortable with gay people, but they still believe that everyone deserves a fair shake and if you work hard and play by the rules, you deserve a good life in our state."

Read all at link above.

More links:

A Fair Wisconsin Votes No

South Carolina Equality Coalition