CANVASSING AGAINST KENTUCKY AMENDMENT: From the Lexington Herald Leader

...Republicans with a libertarian bent can be convinced because they don't want the government to intrude on people's lives, Reece said. Others are moved by personal stories of long-term couples or the fact that the amendment would ban not only same-sex marriage but also civil unions. "If we were able to build a big enough team to talk to every voter in this commonwealth, we would win by a landslide," Reece said. ...

More than anything else on a recent Sunday, the Ashland volunteers found confused voters: What would the amendment do? What would it outlaw? What would voting against it mean?

Biff and Johnda Holbrook were typical. Gilmore approached them on their screened-in back porch, where Biff sat in a hot tub. Johnda, who came to the door, said she hadn't heard about the amendment but then nodded in recognition as Gilmore began to explain.

Gilmore pointed to the amendment's first phrase: "Are you in favor of amending the Kentucky Constitution to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be a marriage in Kentucky ..."

That's already state law, and she didn't have a problem with it, Gilmore explained in a spiel she would repeat over and over again.

"It's the second part they're wanting to add onto it," she said, pointing to the language "... and that a legal status identical to or similar to marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized?"

"It's not only going to hit same-sex couples," Gilmore said, "but it's going to hit straight unions as well."

Gilmore, 36, managed convenience stores until a car wreck in 1994. She has a twangy mountain accent and a triangle tattoo on her wrist. She doesn't read from the talking points provided by No on the Amendment. "I try to talk to them like everyday people," she said.

She explained to the Holbrooks that state law already prohibits same-sex marriage and that the amendment would prevent the state from creating civil unions or domestic partnerships. Without marriage-like arrangements, long-time same-sex partners can't make medical decisions for one another, she said.

The last part caught Biff Holbrook's attention. "They should be able to do that," he called from the hot tub. "... So we vote no on the amendment?" ...

The volunteers didn't convince everybody. Tammy Deboard of Catlettsburg said she spoke to two men who were drinking beer. "At first they just said no," Deboard said. "And then they said all fags should die. And I just left it at that and walked away."

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