Legalizing same sex marriage is a constitutional amendment I'd put in work for

Looking at the last election

It's clear that you have to have a relatively clear ideology on any given ballot year or even good stuff will go down.  Voters seem to have a difficult time when you get conservative and liberal backed initiatives on the same ballot, especially when it's literally more than a handful, so in a strange way, I'm glad this wasn't on the 2012 ballot.

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by: MiddleGrandGuy @ Wed Nov 21, 2012 at 01:39:46 AM UTC

MSU's State of the State survey says it's a winner, too

Support for gay marriage grows in Michigan

Greetings from Detroit, Ground Zero of the post-industrial future!

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by: Neon Vincent @ Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 00:48:24 AM UTC

That was the poll cited

That was the poll cited in Eric's original post.

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by: MiddleGrandGuy @ Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 01:14:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks

I didn't recognize the PhysOrg link as the same thing.  Besides, all I would have done is changed the subject line to "here it is from a local source."

Greetings from Detroit, Ground Zero of the post-industrial future!

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by: Neon Vincent @ Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 03:41:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was going to

Write my first diary on this topic, but as it's now open I'll just piggyback on this post.

I agree SSM should be doable, either in '14 or '16. Not easy, mind you; it wasn't easy in any of the four states in which it was on the ballot this year. And there is at least one  challenge in Michigan. The percentage of the population with college degrees here is lower than in any of the four states (support for SSM correlates well with educational attainment). Religion is a mixed bag. Michigan arguably is less religious overall than MN and MD, but less than WA and ME.

But put that aside for a minute. I agree with the idea that, as a state with a relatively favorable environment and the ability to propose constitutional amendments by initiative, MI should go for it in the near future.

The question is who will organize the effort? Whoever it is will have successful templates to follow. This year, the organizers in the four states actually did some market research and found out what works as far as advertising and personal contact goes. And this effort would take actual organization, like contacting voters, finding out who our supporters are, and making sure they vote. It will require a ground war as well as an air war.

Which brings us to money. Money will be needed for collecting signatures, advertising, and organizing. This year I think NOM and their allies were beaten on the money front as well as the organization front. I doubt they'll let that happen again.

If an effort is made to repeal the odious Art. I, Sec. 25 and substitute marriage equality, I'll be happy to donate money, collect signatures, make phone calls, go door-to-door, or whatever else needs to be done, but only if it's in support of a serious effort to get this done.

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by: Don K @ Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 01:17:15 AM UTC