We might have found our next marriage fight: Michigan.

[tmyers09]

State rep. pushes for same-sex marriage in Michigan

Lansing -- In the wake of Tuesday's passage of a gay rights ordinance in Kalamazoo, a state representative today introduced a plan to overturn Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage.

Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township, introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution to allow same-sex marriage. Voters instituted the ban in 2004, when they approved Proposal 2.

In Kalamazoo on Tuesday, voters approved by a wide margin a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Kalamazoo is the 16th Michigan city to pass such a measure.

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"This is ... an economic issue," Byrnes said. "Young people want to go to cities and communities that are progressive, accepting of people and have good quality of life. That's something that Kalamazoo is now going to have."

Kalamazoo residents voted 7,671 to 4,731 to extend the city's anti-discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. Byrnes said overturning the statewide ban, which courts have interpreted to include all same-sex domestic partnerships, will be a challenge.

Both chambers would have to pass the resolution to place the question on the ballot, a scenario unlikely to happen in the Republican-controlled Senate. If the resolution doesn't pass, proponents would have to collect more than 380,000 signatures to bring the question to a vote.

(continued at link)

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091104/POLITICS02/911040443/1409/METRO

Time to gear up again.

[redqueen]

1. K&R

And I *LOVE* your sig pic. :D

[Unvanguard]

2. I don't see it happening, unless the margin was very close in 2004.

New Jersey and New York are our best shots. DC too, but our victory is pretty much guaranteed there, absent a Congressional intervention (which seems unlikely to me).

[tmyers09]

3. According to further research, it was 59%-41%,

Not terribly close, but not insurmountable with a good campaign.

[Unvanguard]

4. Going with a rough estimate of 2% shift a year, by 2010 you might be able to pull it off.

But not a sure thing by any means.

It would be interesting to see a positive (that is, pro-same sex marriage) ballot measure for once. We'll get an attempted repeal in California too, in 2010 or 2012.