Thursday, June 7, 2012

Maryland may be the place to watch


Marriage equality in Maryland has been approved legislatively but is up for a referendum.  Yet another popular vote on our equality.  But this one might turn out differently:
Polls taken since President Obama expressed support for same-sex marriage have shown an astonishing shift in black support on marriage equality. The shift in Maryland is so dramatic that the state may become the first state to actually uphold same-marriage rights in a referendum.... 
Understand that exploiting the divide between socially conservative but religiously liberal minority groups and social liberals was the linchpin of NOM's strategy in Maryland, which is a very blue state with a large black population. NOM simply can't win without winning black voters, and Obama may have made that impossible. Instead of black voters torpedoeing marriage equality in Maryland, as NOM had hoped, they now stand poised to secure it.

1 comment:

JCF said...

I think Washington State is the best bet for marriage equality.* I'm really intrigued by Maine: a state where the good guys put marriage equality on the ballot. Maryland would be a great pick-up, but I think it's 3rd most likely this time around.

* Truthfully, because Washington is the least religious. I HATE it that "religion = less likely to support SSM", but it's the sad reality.