quote on anti-gay-rights campaigns

[jenk]

This is about the recent failed referendum drive to revisit adding sexual orientation to Washington State's ban on discrimination in housing and employment. The article notes that while Tim Eyman was involved, he did not have the money he usually had to hire signature gatherers. Evangelical churches focused on getting the signatures, both by churchgoers signing and churchgoers circulating petitions. Excerpt:

It is one thing to work up some outrage when in the company of fellow believers, and quite another to ask a stranger to sign a petition directed against one segment of society. He or she could turn out to be "one of them" or the mother or brother of a gay person. It takes a certain amount of cynicism to campaign against the rights of others, often unknown to you, making this sort of campaign best suited for those who are paid by the cynical.

When it comes right down to it, what was lacking in the referendum drive was money to overcome the reluctance of believers to test their beliefs in the public square, where they might encounter neighbors who regard their beliefs as bigotry.

There are times when I think that initatives & referendums with paid signature gatherers should have to get more signatures to be on the ballot to make up for the lack of committed volunteers...