By Peter J. Smith
PHOENIX, November 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) –Arizona voters rejected the initiative to defend traditional marriage in the November 7 general election, according to a recent poll, because voters thought the prohibitions were “unfair” and “violated individual rights” of unmarried couples. Arizonans rejected the measure 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent, making Arizona thus far the only US state where an initiative to ban homosexual “marriage” has failed.
“Protect Marriage Arizona”, known as Proposition 107, would have defined marriage in the state constitution as a union between one man and one woman and would have prohibited any legal recognition of pseudo-marriage arrangements such as civil unions for unwed opposite-sex or same-sex couples.
The poll indicates that Arizonans rejected Proposition 107 in the general election, not on account of its ban against homosexual “marriage”, but precisely for what made “Protect Marriage Arizona” unique: its broad protections of traditional marriage in Proposition 107 extending beyond mere prohibition of homosexual “marriage”.
A survey of those who voted against Proposition 107 showed only 8 percent supported same-sex marriage. Whereas, 30 percent voted against the measure on the grounds it was unfair to deny benefits to unmarried couples, and 60 percent voted against it because they felt it violated individual rights.
“This issue had nothing to do with same-sex marriage,” said Kyrsten Sinema, a Democratic state lawmaker and leader of Arizona Together according to the Associated Press. Sinema’s organization tried unsuccessfully to subvert the marriage amendment first in the courts, and then spent $2.1 million on a campaign to defeat it at the ballot box. “What it did was take away benefits and legal protections that unmarried families in Arizona had.”
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, partnered with KAET-TV, polled 962 voters in the Nov. 7 general election from Thursday to Sunday, and estimated a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.