Showing evidence that the homophobic contingent of the right-wing sector of society wants not only to prevent marriage equality, but to prevent same-sex couples from even enjoying the benefits of a civil union, the right-wing Florida Family Association's director, David Caton, announced that the intent of the newly-passed Amendment 2 in Florida's state constitution should go much farther than defining marriage as "one man, one woman." These right-wing thugs want to prevent domestic partners from getting any kinds of benefits as well--even in the supposedly less-"controversial" civil-union scenario.
But we knew that already. More at the flip for more on the lie showing its face fully now that the elections are over.
The huge success of Amendment 2's passage in Florida (it beat the required 60 percent vote for passage with 62 percent of the vote) was largely due to its proponents misleading voters into believing that the amendment would simply define marriage as between one man and one woman--nothing more--and that the amendment would not threaten domestic-partner benefits of unmarried couples, whether same-sex or hetero.
Turns out that, unsurprisingly, Amendment 2's most vocal advocates were blowing a bunch of smoke up the Florida voters' collective asses. Per today's St. Pete Times (bolding is mine):
TAMPA — Seeking to capitalize on statewide passage of a gay marriage ban, a leading antigay-rights activist is setting his sights on same-sex domestic partnership benefits.
David Caton, executive director of the Florida Family Association, says he will seek a change to the Hillsborough County Charter in 2010 to pre-emptively ban same-sex benefits for county employees.
Efforts to recruit volunteers and collect signatures from voters to get the issue on the ballot will begin early next year, he said. In interviews with the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald on Thursday, Caton sought to frame the issue as a fiscal, as much a moral, argument.
"We're going to use the momentum from the marriage amendment to speak to the fact that most people in this state don't want a recognition of that type of relationship," Caton said. "At this time of economic stress, our government should not be providing benefits to nonemployees on the basis on their sexual relationships."
In the St. Pete Times article, Caton further went on to point out that, because we in the Tampa area voted in our county's first openly-gay county commissioner, the Florida GLBT community feels more emboldened to pursue its "agenda" of...well, being treated like human beings:
Caton said he probably would not be pursuing the matter at this time if not for the election of openly gay County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who won office Nov. 4. He cited strong turnout at Beckner's swearing-in Tuesday as evidence that his supporters will press him to pursue a gay-rights agenda.
Fortunately, opponents of Amendment 2 are not going to take this latest threat to Floridians' civil liberties lying down:
"We've got a coalition now, and we've got people who will work very, very hard to ensure he is not successful," said Sally Phillips, president of the Hillsborough County Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Allied Democratic Caucus. "He'll have a fight on his hands."
Even our mayor in Tampa is on our side:
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said Caton's efforts will not pressure the city to change its policies. A majority of City Council members have said they would not seek to end same-sex benefits.
"We are going to continue our domestic partner benefits," Iorio said. "It's the right thing to do."
And even a Republican on the county commission--a Republican!!--who happened to vote for the notorious ruling to ban Gay Pride events in Hillsborough County 3 years ago said that Caton's efforts were wasted:
Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe said Caton is seeking to address a problem that doesn't exist. In the meantime, the county is facing major challenges, he said.
"My focus is going to be 100 percent on solving some weighty issues: job creation, transportation," Sharpe said. "I'm going to spend the next two years trying to figure out how to bring people together to address quality-of-life issues."
I am glad that even a reliable Republican in the area like Sharpe is calling extremist right-wingers like Caton on their crap, but Caton's threats to move the Overton Window of the marriage-equality debate even further to the right should not be underestimated (again, bolding mine):
Caton said he would seek to use the political momentum of a Hillsborough charter change to influence Tampa elections for City Council and mayor in 2011. With gay marriage bans getting passed in several states, he called same-sex domestic partner benefits the next frontier in the gay-rights battle.
"Domestic partnership will be the battlefield between the pro-family agenda and the gay-radical agenda,'' Caton said. "They're saying it,'' and he and other like-minded people are prepared to respond, he said.
Well, we'd better be prepared to fight their radical agenda before they get the best of us, like they did with Amendment 2 this past election. We're the ones with common sense and the fight for equality on our side, so let's keep it lit.
For more information about how to turn back Amendment 2 and fight for civil liberties in Florida and everywhere, please visit Undo 2.
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