A coalition of national and local advocates have started a campaign advocating for same-sex marriage in Arizona. It is one part of a state-by-state strategy to legalize gay marriage through lawsuits, ballot measures and by winning public opinion. Last week, an effort to get a pro-gay marriage initiative on Arizona’s 2014 ballot folded, amid evaporating support from more established local advocates. Tuesday morning, the group Why Marriage Matters Arizona made its public debut. The group’s led by organizations including Equality Arizona, the Human Rights Campaign, the local American Civil Liberties Union and Freedom to Marry, which is spearheading a state-by-state strategy for gay marriage rights.
As of this summer, the group said it spent $1 million on its marriage campaign and hopes to raise $2 million. Arizona’s on a list of nine states from which Freedom to Marry will choose its 2016 gay marriage battlegrounds.
Tuesday's announcement was only focused on the campaign to win the public opinion battle here, but the group said Arizona’s voter-driven system of initiatives makes it a very possible target for a 2016 ballot measure.