Prop 2 Threatens Passage, Join GEO Fight to Protect Domestic Partner Benefits Provided in Contract

The amendment would limit marriage to heterosexual
couples and prohibit recognition of similar unions as
well. It is designed to limit the possibility that
courts would find a right to marriage or civil unions
for same-sex couples in Michigan, as they have in
Massachusetts and Vermont.

Support for the measure is strongest among those who
attend regular religious services, men and voters
older than 34, said David Blomquist, Free Press senior
editor for technology and research.

The survey also found that a near majority of voters
(48 percent) view same-sex relationships as always
morally wrong. Even more (54 percent) say local
governments and universities should not provide
benefits, such as health and life insurance, to the
partners of gay and lesbian employees.

Blomquist, who designed and directed the poll, said
attitudes on the issue seem to have hardened in the
last year in the wake of the controversy over same-sex
marriage in Massachusetts, San Francisco and other
communities.

“The more talk about gays and gay rights, the more
polarized voters seem to get about it,” he said.

Dana Houle, spokesman for the anti-Proposal 2 group
Coalition for a Fair Michigan, said he is nevertheless
encouraged by the poll results and continues to
believe that a majority of voters will reject it Nov.
2. Support for controversial ballot proposals often
evaporates as the election nears, Houle said.

But Marlene Elwell, campaign director for Citizens for
the Protection of Marriage, which collected petition
signatures to put the issue before voters, said that
isn’t going to happen this time.

In Missouri and Louisiana, which enacted
constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage
this year, pre-election polls underestimated voter
support, she said. Measures in both of those states
passed with more than 70-percent approval.

Blomquist said persuading a majority of voters to
reject the Michigan proposal may be difficult because
so many people seem to have made up their minds.
Although there has been little specific news coverage
of the Michigan proposal and no campaign advertising
by either side, Blomquist said an overwhelming
majority of voters believe they know a lot about the
proposal.

Jan Clinger, a 65-year-old retiree who lives near
Brighton, participated in the Free Press poll and
plans to vote for the ban.

“It’s just not right. A man and a woman make
children,” she said. “Two men don’t make children.”

Clinger said she rejects the notion that denying gay
couples the right to marry is discrimination.

But Peter Eisinger, a political science professor at
Wayne State University who opposes the amendment,
said: “People ought to be able to do what they want if
they don’t harm others.”

“I don’t see that same-sex unions threaten
heterosexual marriage; they don’t threaten my
marriage,” said Eisinger, the married father of two
grown children.

Support for the amendment among Catholics, which the
poll found was quite strong, is based on the notion
that alternative forms of marriage will undermine the
institution, said Rev. John West, a moral theologian
for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“Marriage between one man and one woman is part of the
basic structure God built into human nature,” West
said. “The church didn’t create marriage; neither did
the government.”

Voters from the 18-34 group expressed more skepticism
about the marriage proposal than older voters.

Sekou Lucas, a 24-year-old college student from Flint,
said he plans to vote no.

“We don’t have the right to dictate the way other
people live their lives,” he said. “I think this
country should focus on more pressing issues … like
jobs and people that are hungry.”

Opponents of state marriage ban amendments — and of
proposals by President George W. Bush and
congressional Republicans to amend the U.S.
Constitution to ban same-sex marriage — often
criticize the efforts as divisive and diversionary.
But proponents say they are needed to preserve
traditional marriage, which they say is under assault
by gay rights activists and judges who disregard the
will of the people.

Houle said the campaign to defeat Proposal 2 expects
to have enough money to run TV advertising before Nov.
2. But it is at least a week away, he said.

Elwell said proponents plan to begin radio advertising
within a week.

But almost all of the campaign to date has been on the
grassroots level. The petition drive, for instance,
drew substantially on the support of churches.

Analysts said it is difficult to predict what kind of
campaign could turn the tide against the proposal.
Opponents said they will focus their campaign on the
scope of the Michigan proposal, which they say goes
well beyond protecting marriage. The Free Press poll
showed that voters don’t approve of bans on private
sector benefit plans that cover gay and lesbian
partners.

But supporters of the proposal said private
contractual agreements will not be affected by the
amendment anyway, and the language of the proposal
makes no mention of private sector benefit plans.

++
ABOUT THE POLL
Today’s report is based on a Free Press poll of 830
registered voters across Michigan taken Sept. 22-28.

A computer selected telephone numbers from exchanges
throughout the state. Within each exchange, random
digits formed the numbers called so that households
with listed and unlisted numbers were contacted.
Results were statistically adjusted to reflect the
actual turnout in the 2000 presidential election by
county, age and gender.

The poll has a statistical error margin of plus or
minus 3.5 percentage points for results based on the
entire sample. This means that in 19 of 20 cases, the
results will differ by no more than 3.5 percentage
points from what would have been obtained by
interviewing every registered voter in Michigan. The
margin of error is larger for subgroups, such as women
and African Americans.

The poll was designed and directed by David Blomquist,
Free Press senior editor for technology and research.
Interviews were conducted by Consumer Contact, a
research firm based in Toronto.

For more information about the survey, including the
sources and wording of questions, visit
http://www.freep.com/news/politics/marriagepoll2e_20041002.htm.

Contact DAWSON BELL at 313-222-6604 or
dbell@freepress.com.

Copyright ) 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Go to the Coalition for a Fair Michigan website, www.coalitionforafairmichigan.org, to see the following more positive articles and updates:

1. for DETROIT NEWS:
“Vote No on Proposal 2”

2. September 26, 2004
The Detroit News today announced its opposition to Proposal 2. Read On >

3. MEA OPPOSES PROPOSAL 2
Bargaining Rights at Risk

4. September 23, 2004
Warning that it would infringe on the bargaining rights of public employees and threaten partnership benefits statewide, The Michigan Education Association has announced its opposition to Proposal 2. Continued>
Ballot Language>
September 21, 2004

5.
CNN/Gallup Report on Proposal 2:
YES ON 2: 45%
NO ON 2: 51%
Gallup: Michigan Too Close to Call>

6. WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE?
September 3, 2004
Court Chooses Confusion Over Clarity in Amendment Language>
Ballot Language>