making public opinion, well, public.

[rmd]

knowthyneighbor.org is planning on listing everyone who signs the petition to put an anti-gay-marriage question on the ballot:
The Petition, #05-02, Constitutional Amendment to Define Marriage, reads as follows:
"When recognizing marriages entered into after the adoption of this amendment by the people, the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall define marriage only as the union of one man and one woman."

i'll be curious to see if other groups start doing this with petitions they don't agree with, and whether it'll have a chilling effect on controversion topics.

on the other hand, there was the scandal a few years ago where allegedly people signed what they thought was one petition (to outlaw slaughtering horses for human consumption) only to have the paperwork shuffled around and it was actually an anti-gay marriage petition. something like this would enable people to check whether they'd signed the petition they thought they had.

Comments

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

well, can we get the names of people who sign discrimanation into law? I'm sure I could think of amusing mailing lists to sign them up for...

[roozle.livejournal.com]

Basically I thought this was a really bad idea, and I sent mail to that effect to the person in charge. I got back a thoughtful answer, which brings up the interesting point that the info is already public ... I still am not happy about it, but I thought you and others would be interested to see, and comment upon, the following:

Dear Rachel,

This is not nor will it be mud slinging. KnowThyNeighbor.org only is making the public
information which is available to anyone more accessible to the general public. We believe
and know that our governmental offices through which these names and addresses are obtained
have an obligation to inform and make this information more readily available. This is not
just about same-sex marriage, this is about the democratic process of the initiative
petition and the information around it. Right now only the signature gatherers and the
lobby groups on both sides will have these names and addresses. They were meant for the
general public by our Constitution and we believe the public is best suited to know what is
right for itself.

We have never nor will we ever suggest that anyone do anything with this information out of
the realm of civil, legal and respectful discourse. KnowThyNeighbor.org will take a stand
against any privacy invasions or use of other information truthful or not used against
anyone who signed this list. This is not what we are about.

Thank you and please do keep in touch. All comments are a necessary part of this process
and our Demoracy.

Regards,
Tom Lang, Director


Disingenuous is the word that comes to mind, but YMMV.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, the fact that it's already public info is why i'm not immediately against it. it's part of a trend of information that used to be public-but-hard-to-get-to becoming public-and-easily-available. i'm still conflicted about some of it, tho.

and certainly, i've signed petitions that i don't agree with in the interests of putting things on the ballot. i don't generally think that basic civil liberties should be up for popular vote, tho.