My name is Bill Humphrey, and I am the Statewide Director for Delaware Right to Marry PAC.
I first began reading Daily Kos regularly in the fall of 2007, and I registered (under my own handle, of course) in about December 2008. When our all-volunteer team began developing our strategy for spreading the word and raising money for our planned effort, the first online community I suggested we go to was right here. So for our introductory diary at Daily Kos, I want to let you know a bit about our effort and how you can help us bring marriage equality to one more state in the coming year. Join me below the fold!
I realize that for most of you, Delaware has not been high on your radars. I'm hopeful that the recent high-profile race between Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell has changed that a bit! Democrats came out overwhelmingly to support now-Senator Coons this past November, fighting back against the reactionary brand of politics which O'Donnell was selling. With changing attitudes and such a strong show of force by Democrats in our little state -- we cleaned up all but one statewide race and won a supermajority in the Delaware House -- in what was otherwise almost universally a bad year for Democrats nationally, we think that now is the right time to act boldly for expanding the right to marry to gay and lesbian Delawareans.
In April 2009, Nate Silver estimated that Delaware voters would be ready to accept marriage equality by 2011 if it were put to a vote. However, unlike in many states, there is no ballot initiative process (which is a good thing since we don't believe people should be able to vote on other people's rights), nor is there an equal rights clause in the state's constitution to allow for a court ruling in favor of marriage equality, as in Massachusetts or Iowa. So we have to go the legislative route.
The bill we are planning to have introduced in the 2011 legislative session is heavily based on the 2009 law passed in New Hampshire, which includes strong protections for freedom of religion so that people who are on the fence about equal marriage rights for same-sex couples won't need to be worried. Nevertheless, because anti-gay groups have been active in the state in recent elections, we need to test public support anyway, to be able to give legislators more information about what people really think on issues such as marriage, civil unions, and other gay rights.
There has not been any public opinion poll on any LGBT issues for several years now in the state of Delaware, so this is a critical tool that everyone has been lacking in recent legislative battles on these issues. We are going to be commissioning a poll from Public Policy Polling, which had a very good track record in Delaware during the past cycle; they were the first to pick up the fact that O'Donnell was about to beat nine-term Congressman Mike Castle for the Republican US Senate nomination. The other good thing about Public Policy Polling is that they are automated, which we feel is more likely to mitigate the effect seen in other marriage equality polls in various states, where some people are apparently lying to live pollsters about their real feelings on gay issues and people. We think this goes both ways since people do not feel they have to be politically incorrect, but they can also answer honestly by pushing a button rather than possibly being overheard answering questions, if they are more supportive than they might let on to family.
We need your help raising the money to pay for this poll. Because we have received some donations already offline our online target right now is to raise $2,350 by January 1st, so we can have the poll completed before the legislative session begins.
We are suggesting contributions of $25 each because the total cost of the poll is going to be $2,500, and 25x100=2500. (Note: Our overall goal is higher than that because we're factoring in credit card fees, but this is still a nice round number to use.) We are using ActBlue, which most of you are familiar with on this site from Orange to Blue fundraisers and other community fundraising pages. We just got this set up today, so this is the first fundraising drive with it!
I know money is tight for many people right now, especially in the midst of the holiday season, but if you can spare just $25, we can put it to good use. As I said, we are all-volunteer and very low-budget, so we ration all the money carefully!
If you cannot contribute today, please be sure to spread the word!
Our website is DelawareRightToMarry.com and you can join our mailing list here to stay up to date on our efforts. If you live in Delaware (or nearby) be sure to sign up on our Action list to tell us how you would like to get involved in the spring.
Having grown up in Massachusetts during the period when marriage equality became legal, I have seen firsthand what a difference this right makes in the lives of my gay friends and acquaintances. I consider this to be the civil rights battle of my generation, and I am proud to take on this challenge in Delaware in the coming year. With your support, I am optimistic that we will prevail.
Thanks for reading! I will be answering comments below for as long as possible tonight.
Bill Humphrey
Statewide Director
Delaware Right to Marry PAC