Orlando Sentinel Says "No" To Hate

My erstwhile hometown paper, the Orlando Sentinel, has come out against the Florida ballot amendment to ban gay marriage.

The state's voters will face an array of six questions on the Nov. 4 ballot, the most notable of which is Amendment 2 -- the cleverly labeled "Florida Marriage Protection Amendment." Who wouldn't want to protect marriage? Trouble is, this amendment is about more than matrimony.

Amendment 2 - What it would do: Memorialize marriage as a "legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife . . ." But it also declares that "no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

Good idea or bad idea? Bad idea. This amendment does more than just target homosexual unions. It puts all manner of domestic partnerships at a possible disadvantage. For example, after a similar measure passed in Michigan in 2004, the state's Supreme Court ruled that public institutions could no longer offer health and other benefits to domestic partners of the same sex. Many institutions found a way around the ruling, but why put people in Florida at risk? Besides, state law already restricts marriage to a man and a woman, and Florida doesn't recognize gay unions performed in other states. This measure seems more like a cynical attempt to bring out the conservative base in a presidential election year. Our recommendation: Vote No.

Orlando's not exactly known as a bastion of liberalism in Florida, but its been on a good run for a while now.