Queer Town: New Poll Shows Voter Hesitancy To Strip Gays of Marriage Right

The Sacramento Bee reported about a new Field Poll yesterday, which showed 55 percent of Californians would oppose Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage November ballot measure. The numbers for voters who support the ban have remained stagnant at 38 percent. Whether or not people are comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married seems to be beside the point with the new polling data. Instead, it appears people simply don't want to take away a right that's already been established.

The findings are to be expected. California voters have always had a libertarian streak when it comes individual rights, and the wording of the ballot measure says Prop. 8 "eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry." One of the new emerging heroes of the gay marriage fight is the person who signed off on that language: California State Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Gay Republicans, in the meantime, are also deep in the gay marriage battle. Scott Olin Schmidt, campaign manager of "Republicans Against 8," rolled out a series of videos on YouTube and its website, www.republicansagainst8.com.

"We're putting a face on real Republicans," Schmidt told me, "speaking to other Republicans about how Proposition 8 is un-Republican. Thanks to the Internet, people don't have to rely on party bosses to tell them what to think. People can hear real Republicans talking about why they think other Republicans should vote no on 8.

Jerry Brown and Republicans on the same team? It must be some kind of miracle.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.