Poll: South Dakota Voters Reject Anti-Gay Amendment

This is seriously stunning. The state that banned abortion says it will not pass an amendment to end domestic partnerships, and ban civil unions and same-sex marriage. 49% of South Dakotans polled said they would vote 'no' on the anti-gay amendment on the ballot in their state. 41% said they would vote 'yes'. The margin of error was 3.5%.

I met Jon Hoadley of Against Discrimination, the collective of LGBT organizations in South Dakota fighting the ban, when he stopped over in Minneapolis on his way to lead the fight. He was simply going out there to use the amendment to build LGBT groups capacity and create a network of LGBT activism. It was never even supposed to be close. Now, a poll that is well outside the margin of error is showing that this will be the closest and perhaps best shot at defeating these bigotry based constitutional tamperings. Not everyone is happy, however. Baptist Press (a publication of the Southern Baptist Convention!) had this to say:

The question posed to those in the South Dakota survey may have impacted the poll's outcome, Regier suggested. Somewhat lengthy, it stated: "Constitutional Amendment C would amend the state constitution to allow and recognize marriage only between a man and a woman. It would also prohibit the legislature from allowing or recognizing civil unions, domestic partnerships or other quasi-marital relationships between two or more persons regardless of sex. If you were voting on this amendment today, would you vote 'yes' to change the constitution, or 'no' to leave the constitution as it is?"

"I think the question may have confused some people," [South Dakota Family Policy Council Executive Director] Rob Regier told the Argus Leader.

It's not the question confused people. It's that the SD Family Policy Council doesn't like that the full impact of the amendment is fully disclosed for voters. Wisconsin anti-gays got angry too when the Wisconsin Attorney General included text that allowed voters to realize the full impact of the amendment. The people pushing these amendments don't like voters knowing the full truth, because most voters aren't as mean-spirited.

“South Dakotans are reading the second sentence of Amendment C and aren’t fooled by misleading talk about ‘gay marriage,’ which is already illegal in South Dakota," said Against Discrimination campaign manager Jon Hoadley. Hoadley is right. When voters know the truth, they will vote for fairness and equality.