We Won!!!!!!!!!!

[Zerbie]

WE DID IT!!!! WE WON IN ARIZONA!!!!

Arizona defeated Prop 107 - the "marriage" amendment - by approximately 30,000 votes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Giancarlo]

Yet in SEVEN other states, gay marriage bans were approved, and the Senate is now deadlocked. Hollow victory of the sorts for me, as I have no confidence in either party. I guess i'm too negative...

[Daniel]

http://365gay.com/Newscon06/11/110706wrap.htm

(Washington) Democrats swept the House of Representatives on Tuesday, and Arizona became the first state where voters rejected a bid to ban same same-sex marriage in its constitution.

You go girl!!!!!!!!!! All those efforts paid off big time. I am so proud of you- I'm smiling from ear to ear.

This is where the tide starts turning. This is a beacon of hope and a harbinger of things to come. This is absolutely amazingly wonderful.

This is why we need more Zerbie's in the world!

Big hugs and kisses.

[BruceChris]

All KINDS Of CONGRATULATIONS!!

Where Do I Send The Stuffed Gay Penguin?

We did get rid of that bogus abortion law in South Dakota

And We Elected Amy Klobuchar, The First Woman Elected To The Senate In Minnesota

Peace and Love, Chris

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends,

The news is not so good from Wisconsin. We tried hard, too, to turn back the marriage amendment, but it passed. We had support from the mainline Protestants (Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans) but the large Roman Catholic vote and the smaller evangelical vote was being steered by their leadership strongly against LGBT persons.

On the other hand, Democrats took control of our State Legislature, and our Democratic incumbent Govenor kept his seat. You may say there is no difference in the parties, but the fact is that the anti-gay amendment in this state was all about the Republican party's desire to extend their control of State government, and they failed. In fact, there strategy may have backfired. The Republicans may have failed because the Amendment brought out progressive voters in large numbers.

I can tell you, with Democrats in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, there won't be any anti-gay Amendments coming out of that house for two years. As long as we can prevent the U.S. Constitution from changing on the "marriage issue," there is hope that some day state level discrimination will be struck down--maybe not soon, but eventually people will regret the Constitutional Amendments that they passed last night.

Steven Webster

[pnggrad79]

For the first time in my life, I voted Democrat. I am from Texas and was so disheartened by the same sex marriage ban voted on in 2005 that I was sick of Rick Perry and his anti-gay policies. He won again yesterday, but we had a lot of Democratic seats taken and that is good news. On the national level, I am hoping that at least no more anti-gay agendas will pass, but I am not so optomistic. But hey, congratulations to Arizona!!! That is fantastic. I wish it was Texas! Hey I wouldn't mind at all living in AZ!!!

It all comes down to this-if we ever want to see equality for the LGBT people of this country, we are going to have to get off our apathetic butts and do something about it. Equality is something this country was founded on in principle, but in practice it has been fought for at a great price, and not something we can always count on. Anti gay legislation is blatantly unconstitutional and un-American. Maybe someday we will see equality for everyone.

[Lydia]

Very cool, Zerbie.

[Lydia]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

We did get rid of that bogus abortion law in South Dakota

And more good news.

I think the tide is (slowly) turning.

[Vanessa White]

We CANNOT discount the fact that the upset in Arizona on that Marriage Proposition was most likely a result of the hard work of a group of INDIVIDUALS, like Zerbie, working for change. When we think our efforts don't make a difference, we see that, at times, they do. Good work, Zerbie. You should feel pride at this GREAT accomplishment. Here in PA, Santorum for all of his harsh, inappropriate words about gay persons, IS GONE.
Amen!!!!

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by Vanessa White

We CANNOT discount the fact that the upset in Arizona on that Marriage Proposition was most likely a result of the hard work of a group of INDIVIDUALS, like Zerbie, working for change. When we think our efforts don't make a difference, we see that, at times, they do. Good work, Zerbie. You should feel pride at this GREAT accomplishment. Here in PA, Santorum for all of his harsh, inappropriate words about gay persons, IS GONE.
Amen!!!!

It was so gratifying to step up to that touchscreen and vote against Santorum! I even took a look at the confirm screen so I could enjoy seeing my checkmark beside Casey's name and not Santorum's before I hit the button to register my vote.

I am concerned about the 7 states who voted to ban gay marriage. What work needs to be done there? What can we learn from what has already been done?

[Vanessa White]

Excellent point. Dialoguing with Zerbie and her group about what they did that worked. Their end result speaks for itself, but it would be helpful to look at their actions toward the result vs. what some groups did in the other states. Keltic, do you know offhand how many states now have bans on gay marriage on the books?

[kara speltz]

Congratulations Zerbie. You folks worked hard. Arizona was the only state to not compitulate to the religious right in terms of the ban on gays this time. I know you must be feeling exhausted and proud as well you should.

kara

[Dash]

Ahh...is that the scent of optimism in the air?!

Yes, Congrats to Zerbie and AZ for the good labor and its encouraging result.

And a good Liberty Day to all!!

[Giancarlo]

I really have no confidence in either party and I view this as a "hollow victory" if it is that at all. I am pleased, however, of the way things went in California. I'm very pleased that Props 85-90 failed.

[Zerbie]

There were indeed a few individuals who made specific difference - like our campaign chairs Kyrsten Sinema and Steve May - who were responsible for devising a winning strategy. The only questions were, would we have the funding and the volunteer power, to carry that strategy out?

I am beyond exhausted. I feel wonderful and terrible at the same time.

Hafta go someplace now, but if anyone's interested I can come back later with more details about the campaign, and my god! How I wish you all could have been there with us at our Victory Party last night!!!!!!!

One of our local gay news magazines had already designed the cover for our WE WON! victory issue, which was held up for the cameras while the crowd chanted, "First in the nation!!" I completely broke down in sobs of joy.

[dewdrop_world]

Originally Posted by keltic63

I am concerned about the 7 states who voted to ban gay marriage. What work needs to be done there? What can we learn from what has already been done?

I too was pleased to see Santorum bite the dust.

Perhaps we can discuss the 7 states question in this thread?

http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1514

James

[DColeman]

I guess I should have posted it to this thread, but I posted to General Chat. Oops.

Rick Santorum is gone from the Senate, but Michelle Bachman was elected to the House by MY district. Bachman is more dangerous than Santorum ever was, because she's articulate and smart.

And she's sooooo anti-gay. 2 years will go by before she can dent us with a bill, but she'll try passing one against us eventually. Maybe two. Maybe three.

She sure tried hard in Minnesota.

-David

[scott snedeker]

Focus on the victory today!

and look forward to a kinder world tomorrow!

Anticipate the progress to come!

Frustration with the present now becomes hoping!

Then hoping now becomes believing we will see our world change!

When believing becomes Knowing then there is no stopping!

And joy is felt at every step!
Scotty

[BruceChris]

And they have been reporting that European newspaper headlines have been saying such things as "Thank You, America", and "The Nightmare is Over". Of course, they are referring mainly to the arrogance, incompetence and corruption of the Republican administration as a whole, but then the Bushie's record on other peoples civil rights ain't so good, either.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[revtj]

OK, Madame Speaker said she's not going after revenge. That's good.

But I believe we MUST address the torture issue with a resounding NO. We must hold W & Co. accountable on this for the good of all humanity.

We let Nixon off the hook and the question of the executive branch being above the law has lingered. Now we must answer it as a nation and a planet.

Address. not a dress.