Florida Gay Marriage Foes Come Up Short (Yes!!)

[LiberalGuy000]

by Fidel Ortega, 365Gay.com Miami Bureau
Posted: February 1, 2006 - 7:00 pm ET

(Tallahassee, Florida) A group collecting signatures for a proposed amendment to Florida's constitution to ban same-sex marriage has failed according to the Associated Press.

State records at 5 p.m., the deadline for turning in the signatures, showed that the group had turned in about 446,000 signatures, well short of the 611,009 needed, but the totals were unofficial.

Florida4Marriage conceded that it was likely to fall short the AP reports.

Officials at the state Division of Elections likely wouldn't be able to say with certainty Wednesday night whether the group had turned in enough signatures, because they had to be verified, a division spokeswoman said.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/02/020106flaAmend.htm

[JeffR]

1. No doubt

They'll demand a recount.

[LiberalGuy000]

4. ha...

Yeah. Repugs seem to fail when they don't use electronic voting machines. Interesting, isn't it?

[JeffR]

6. Makes me glad to be a Georgia voter

And an absentee one at that.

I'm from Fort Lauderdale, and everything I hear about Florida these days makes me want to throw up.

Thanks for posting this, though. It makes me feel a bit better about my home state.

[LiberalGuy000]

8. no problem

I grew up in Florida too. I escaped to California several years ago (via Minnesota).

A similar group in California also failed to get enough signatures a few months ago. I was afraid that California would be the only state where this was the case.

[JeffR]

10. Maybe there's hope!

[jsamuel]

2. too bad they weren't counting signatures on a voting machine

they would have had it for sure!

[stop the bleeding]

3. Good news - I remember reading that the people collecting the signatures

were aware that they were not going to make it and that was about 2-3 weeks ago.

[LiberalGuy000]

5. today was the deadline...

...that's why it's newsworthy...

They couldn't lie, cheat, or steal their way to success this time.

[stop the bleeding]

7. Don't start giving high fives to people, this was just the first victory

out of many attempts over the next years and decades(Alito SCOTUS) - so they will try every cheating scheme they can think of.

[LiberalGuy000]

9. please...

Let us be happy about something, okay?

[stop the bleeding]

11. I'm sorry your right, this is a victory worth savoring. I just don't want

people to think that is it and start resting on their laurels.

Enjoy!

:toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast:

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang:

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

:applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause:

[wakeme2008]

12. but Florida group to redistrict has 870,000 on file

with the State. So that one (really three) are a go... :bounce: :toast: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :toast: :bounce:

[soup]

15. I'd like to join this celebration, too.

:bounce: :toast: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :toast: :bounce:

Premature or not, both bits of news are worth celebrating.

[soup]

13. Good news!

Unfortunately, you know they aren't going to just let it go.

>>Organizers mounted a last-day push to get petitions turned in, but fell short turning in only about 455,000 signatures of the 611,009 needed, said John Stemberger the leader of the petition effort.

"It was an amazingly strong showing considering the resources we had," Stemberger said. "If it takes another two years it's worth the wait."

Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier this week that if the measure didn't succeed, he may talk to lawmakers about whether the state law that already defines marriage needs strengthening, or constitutional protection. He noted that there's no current challenge to the law, but said it would be hard to respond after the fact if someone did successfully challenge it.<<
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_CONSTITUTIONAL_AMENDMENTS_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Got a chuckle over the 'boohoo, poor us - consider the resources we had' line. Consider this: among the resources were the Republican Party, Dobson's group, and a huge number of churches.

--

Sidenote - sure hope the redistricting proposal wording makes it through the court next week and onto the ballot. That's one I really hope to see go through. No more drawing their own districts.

[pinto]

14. Ha!. Good news.

[0rganism]

16. It's a miracle! This proves that God hates religious bigots!

For His next trick, the Almighty will strike Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Fred Phelps with lightning, simultaneously, thus proving both His Existence and His Divine Impatience with hypocrites who eat shellfish and wear mixed fabrics, yet still have the gall to preach from Leviticus about the sexual preferences of others.

[Erika]

18. You forget the beard lengths

the Bible and Koran requires. The religious extremists should be struck down for that violation alone.

[Erika]

17. Yes!!! n/t

[deadparrot]

19. It's a sign from God!

:bounce: