Arizona Launches Campaign to Put Marriage Equality on 2014 Ballot

California*, D.C. and New York have marriage equality, so why not every one of my "home" states?

Echo reports:

Arizona voters could decide whether to legalize same-sex marriage next year if a group that's launched an effort to change the state Constitution gathers enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.  

The people behind the campaign are Warren Meyer, a Phoenix small business owner, Libertarian blogger and author, and Erin Ogletree Simpson, a retired Tucson lawyer and chair of the Arizona Log Cabin Republicans. Meyer and Ogletree Simpson said their goal is to gather at least 400,000 to ensure that their proposal qualifies for the ballot. They said signatures will be gathered by volunteer and paid workers.  

The initiative would alter the language of an amendment to the state Constitution approved by voters in 2008, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. The new language would define marriage as between two people.

I'm not a fan of letting people -- much less Arizonans -- vote on other people's civil rights, but it's a step in the right direction. And as improbable as it may sound, let's not forget that a gay man was behind the successful effort to impeach Republican Gov. Evan Mecham ... in the '80s! (Mecham was a big fan of the word pickaninny, so Jan Brewer is in good company.)

Your move, Michigan. Keep reading HERE.


*Prop 8 is on its way out.