Proponents of "equal marriage" want Arizona voters to decide if marriage should be defined as a union of two people, instead of one man and one woman.
A group of Republicans and libertarians called "Equal Marriage Arizona" has filed the necessary paperwork with the Secretary of State to start collecting signatures on the initiative. The group will need 259,213 signatures by July 2014 to get on the ballot.
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This proposal would change the amendment to the Arizona Constitution that voters approved in 2008, Proposition 102, which declared, "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."
Fifty-six percent of voters said "yes" to that amendment, while 44 percent said "no."
The people behind this proposal are Phoenix business owner and libertarian writer Warren Meyer, and retired Tucson attorney Erin Ogletree Simpson, who's the chairwoman for the Arizona Log Cabin Republicans.
In a statement, Simpson said she thinks it's "significant that this initiative for equal marriage in Arizona be launched from the political right, as we believe this is an issue of personal freedom."
Between this initiative, and the one seeking to legalize personal use of marijuana, Arizona might not be recognizable anymore come late 2014, if these groups can get enough petition signatures.
Equal Marriage Arizona says it has national support from a political-advocacy group run by former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, as well as the national Log Cabin Republicans.
Click here to see the brief language of the proposed amendment.
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