Zerbie and Beth have got the Mayor on their side!

[BruceChris]

Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon is opposing an Arizona constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, saying its prohibition of domestic-partner benefits could hurt the city's ability to recruit talented employees. Gordon said Tuesday that if the city of Phoenix cannot offer health insurance to the domestic partners of its employees, it could jeopardize the city's "ability to compete against the private sector or other cities" as the city grows rapidly. Phoenix currently provides the benefit to 176 employees.

(edit) http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/08/23/2

Way to go, guys. Maybe all of those stuffed animals did the trick

Peace and Love, Chris

[Zerbie]

Yep! Mayor Gordon and also the recently retired prez of Univ of Az have both publicly opposed the amendment on exactly the grounds stated. Which is something our campaign has been trying to communicate all along. The problem we encountered of course was that the opposition has been painting this as a gay marriage issue only, until recently. A couple weeks ago, our opposition finally admitted publicly that the amendment WOULD roll back partner benefits. They had been flat-out denying that for over a year. Finally, in the recent court case it came up, and one of their major spokespersons admitted it.

IF this fact reaches enough voters, we'll win in November,so please, any of you who have contacts in Arizona, please speak/email with them and explain the importance of voting NO on Prop 107.

Thanks for posting, Chris.

[Jennifer5]

Good Job and Good Luck! Sounds like things are going well! Keep up the good work!

[tdogg]

Isn't that how 'they' operate - portray an innocent-enough (to some anyway) agenda while hiding the REAL and significant result of getting this through. California conservatives are very good at doing just that. The citizens are sometimes fooled, and sometimes not. I'm amazed that it was finally admitted to.

Good luck with this. I have no contacts in Arizona Zerb, but if you can think of something that might help from hot and sunny Sac - lemme know!

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by tdogg

Good luck with this. I have no contacts in Arizona Zerb, but if you can think of something that might help from hot and sunny Sac - lemme know!

Cool.

Well, I guess if you talk to your other friends about this, some of THEM might have contacts in AZ who they could persuade. And the other thing is, our campaign always needs money - we'll be funding local TV and radio ads, plus a large direct-mail campaign to targeted voter precincts. I dunno what your financial situation is like, but if you can spare a few dollars, I'm sure you don't have to live in AZ to donate online. If you're interested, or have a friend who is interested in sending us $10, or $50, or even if you know someone rich who can give us $1000 or more, that would be FANTASTIC. (one CAN always hope )

Take a look at www.aztogether.org

Thanks for asking.

[tdogg]

Great, I will take a look at the site when I have more time (trying to get a 20 min nap in before my partner gets home and we leave for Monarchs game). Would be happy to spread the word and while $1k is out (I WISH!) - will definitely see what I can do. Thanks for the ideas Z!

[Beth K. Eyres]

I heard the same news story about the mayor and retired university president. I was also listening to Beth and Bill on KEZ, and they mentioned prop 107. I was impressed that they talked about the second part of the amendment, and that if it passes it will end all domestic partnership benefits (gov.) for heterosexual and homosexuals.

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by Beth K. Eyres

I heard the same news story about the mayor and retired university president. I was also listening to Beth and Bill on KEZ, and they mentioned prop 107. I was impressed that they talked about the second part of the amendment, and that if it passes it will end all domestic partnership benefits (gov.) for heterosexual and homosexuals.

This is SUCH good news. Until lately, it's been mentioned briefly only as a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Now, the whole story is getting out - and that can mean a win for us!!!! Let's keep up the good work!!!!!!!

Thanks T for your expressions of support! Yeah, I too can only wish I had a spare $1000 lying around to donate to the campaign! Haha!!! As it is, we donated a little over $100. Mostly what I'm giving is loads and loads of time, which reminds me, I have "homework" to analyze for the campaign this weekend, so I better get a move on with that soon. . .

Beth: are ya going to the informational town hall this Weds? I'm planning on going, as long as I'm not totally wiped out from classes like I was this past week (first week stuff is always chaotic and exhausting.)

[tdogg]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

This is SUCH good news. Until lately, it's been mentioned briefly only as a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Now, the whole story is getting out - and that can mean a win for us!!!! Let's keep up the good work!!!!!!!

Mostly what I'm giving is loads and loads of time, which reminds me, I have "homework" to analyze for the campaign this weekend, so I better get a move on with that soon. . .

More often than not - time is much more valuable to a cause then money!! You go Zerbie and Beth! (But...don't forget to do your homework...)

I'm so proud of you and thankful too!

[Beth K. Eyres]

Zerbie! I can't tell you how cool it was to hear one radio station just cover the story as part of regular news...I'm not sure if they were reading from a press release or what, but they did have it correct on the domestic partnership issue.

Don't know about whether I can make it to the town hall. I've got Open House on Tuesday, and that could wear me out for Wednesday. Is it just me, or is this heat and humidity causing undue weariness??

I'll try to make it and look for you if I do.

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by Beth K. Eyres

Zerbie! I can't tell you how cool it was to hear one radio station just cover the story as part of regular news...I'm not sure if they were reading from a press release or what, but they did have it correct on the domestic partnership issue.

Don't know about whether I can make it to the town hall. I've got Open House on Tuesday, and that could wear me out for Wednesday. Is it just me, or is this heat and humidity causing undue weariness??

I'll try to make it and look for you if I do.

Yes, it IS good to hear the whole story aired. A year ago it was just read as a measure to ban "homosexual marriage." Now they're telling the full story!

Heat and humidity! Oh hahaha! yes!!!! It's been so unusually wet for Phoenix I've been SNEEZING! Something was on my voice for 2 days and I had to take Mucinex. I guess some kind of spores are breeding with the unusual moisture. I also had some serious trouble sleeping last week - hot, over-tired, plus a lot of new undertakings in life whelming-me-over.

I don't know if I'll want to be out Tuesday night - is that to work on getting the mailing out? We have an invite to a friend's for tomorrow, then I have some long days, plus the town hall info session on Weds, then Kendra has asked our targeting committee to come by on Thursday night, Thursday being a marathon day for me already. . . We'll see, I guess, if either of us makes it out on Weds.

[Mia14]

Wow, people are actually listening somewhere in America. Maybe there's hope after all for this crazy country we call home.


Nah, seriously, I knew that eventually people would start to come around. It's encouraging!

[Emproph]

This was an unrelated article in a "Google alert" I received. I listed a couple of more local articles at the bottom, one from the aztogether.org site.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/pu...ticle_3180.php
The Community Newspaper for Gay & Lesbian Dallas
Tucson mayor, wife announce opposition to anti-gay-marriage ballot initiative 8-31-06

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and his wife, Beth Walkup, have announced their opposition to Proposition 107, an initiative on the November ballot in Arizona that would, opponents say, cause cities such as Tucson and Phoenix to lose domestic partner benefits they already offer to same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples.

“Tucson has a strong history of local governance. We decided that we wanted a domestic partner registry for those people who need it. What we don’t need is a group in Phoenix dictating to us how to operate our affairs,” Mayor Walkup said. (gotta love that! )

His wife added, “I’ve been in the business community for years in Tucson, and I don’t think we should look favorably on an initiative that could undermine business choices about which benefits to offer to our employees. Further, we should be wary of any initiative … which has proven in other states to lead to long, drawn-out court battles, thus potentially making it more difficult to do business in Arizona.”

In 2003, Tucson became the first municipality in Arizona to offer a domestic partner registry. By June this year, 438 couples have registered. Three of those couples were unmarried retired couples who are among the 10 couples that have filed a lawsuit against Proposition 107.

Proposition 107 would prohibit the state or any of its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing any legal status similar to marriage for unmarried couples.

Kyrsten Sinema, chair of Arizona Together, a coalition formed to oppose Proposition 107, said that the Walkups join Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Peter Likins, former president of the University of Arizona, in opposing the initiative.
____________________
A couple of others:

Mayor, wife join push vs. same-sex union ban try 8-24-06
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/23825.php

Tucson Mayor Walkup and Mrs. Beth Walkup Opposed to Prop. 107, The Anit-Domestic Benefits Initiative. August 23, 2006
http://www.noprop107.com/news/view_article.cfm?id=16

[Zerbie]

Yep! 'Zackly. Businesses don't appreciate being told they can't offer DP benefits to their employees, because that makes them less competitive. The talented employees who want to cover a partner will take jobs in other states.

Some of our best support comes from the business community, for this reason.

I too loved that quote about "what we don't need." Great one!