Blades: Anti-gay petition drive fails in Fla.
Tom Dempsey
Effort for constitutional
amendment in Colo. begins
DENVER (AP) | Feb 2, 8:04 AM
Florida4Marriage.org, a group that wanted the Florida constitution to
define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, said Wednesday
it had failed to gather enough signatures to get the measure on the
November ballot.
On the same day, a coalition of religious and family groups kicked off a
drive in Colorado to amend its state constitution to ban gay marriage.
Coloradans for Marriage submitted a proposed amendment that defines
marriage between a man and a woman to the state Legislative Council
office, the first step toward getting it on the ballot this fall. The
group will need the secretary of state to approve the wording and 68,000
valid signatures from registered voters to get the measure on the ballot.
The group's president, Bishop Phillip H. Porter Jr., said the proposed
amendment is about preserving marriage and protecting children, not
about hating gay people.
An opposing group, Coloradans for Fairness and Equality, argues the
proposal does not strengthen or protect marriage and enshrines
"discrimination into the language of the constitution.
There are currently 18 states with constitutional amendments against gay
marriage. Most of those amendments were adopted after Massachusetts'
highest court legalized gay marriage in 2003.
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