Friday, September 19, 2008

Anti-marriage initiative seems headed down the toilet.

The latest opinion polls in California indicate that Proposition 8, which would strip gay couples of the legal right to marry, is headed toward defeat. Not only has the proposition not been able to win over a majority of voters, it is losing support. Apparently the more that the proponents of the ban campaign the less support they receive.

When the antigay initiative was first placed on the ballot it was trailing by nine points in the polls. Since then the initiative has lost ground and now trails by 17 points. Only 38 percent of the public now expresses support for the measure.

Previously I have reported how religious groups are pouring money into the coffers of the antigay groups that are pushing the initiative. Even that is starting to backfire on them. Bruce Bastian of Orem, Utah learned that Mormons had given large sums of money to the antigay measure. Bastian, who was raised Mormon, got a bit angry about this and decided to make a donation as well. He gave $1 million to defend equal marriage rights. Actor Brad Pitt also tossed in $100,000. Pitt's statement on the matter was pretty much spot on from a libertarian perspective (Bob Barr take note): "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8." By the way, even with donations like these, the religious nutters are clearly winning the money war. Too bad for them, money doesn't buy bigotry.

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