Arkansas: all the names and addresses of the Arkansans who signed the petitions put Act 1 on Ballot

[FreeState]

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2009/04/love_they_neighbor.aspx

A Massachusetts gay rights group, KnowThyNeighbor.org, has replicated in Arkansas what it has done in several other states.

It has compiled a list, from public records, of all the names and addresses of the Arkansans who signed the petitions to put Act 1 on last year's ballot. This was the anti-gay measure, approved by voters, that prohibits adoption or fostering parenting by unmarried people living together. It's part of the anti-gay agenda of the Family Council, but as has been well reported, it first of all harmed children in need of homes. It also hurt heterosexuals in the course of promoting that agenda. The ACLU has sued over the act.

[ThomCat]

1. I wonder if the bigots know, when they support this stuff,

that they are going to be publicly outed as bigots. I wonder if this comes back and bites any of them.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Apparently they did not and now they are getting really pissy about it.

They don't want their bigotry exposed.

This from our local paper:

Group Outs Gay Ban Petitioners
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 9:43 AM CDT
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - A Massachusetts gay rights group on Tuesday posted on the Internet the names and addresses of more than 83,000 Arkansans who signed petitions last year to put a gay adoption ban on the state ballot, action the leader of the ballot initiative condemned as "pure intimidation."

<snip>

"This is pure intimidation. Everyone who looks at this Web site can see this is an effort on the part of radical gay organizations to intimidate citizens into not exercising their rights," said Jerry Cox, director of the Little Rock-based Family Council, the organization that spearheaded the petition drive.

<snip>

Lang said his groups expects many petition signers will be confronted about their actions as their names appear on the Web site. Cox said he was not as concerned about confrontations as with the implications for the democratic process.

"It's almost like surrendering the secret ballot," he said. "If the public knows who you're voting for, it has an effect on your vote. "(Publishing petition information) may not be a brother to it, but its a cousin to it. It affects how you exercise your vote."

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/news042909_11.txt