According to a brief article on the back of the front section of today’s Ann Arbor News, a recent poll by EPIC/MRA found that 61% of Michigan residents favor amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Such an amendment is under way, since the Lansing-based group that is pushing the issue (after having lost the battle in March to get the amendment passed in the legislature) has presumably collected enough signatures to put the matter on the November ballot.

What the proponents of this amendment prefer that you not know is that the proposed amendment would not just prohibit gay and lesbian couples from getting “married,” which in any case is already illegal in Michigan and across the country (remember the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in 1996 and signed into law by Bill Clinton?). DOMA, by the way, also already allows states to refuse to recognize gay “marriages” that have been performed in other states.

Read the language of the proposed amendment. It says:

To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.

The key phrase is “similar union for any purpose.” That can mean anything. That’s the way the backers of this horrible amendment want it.

What the proposed amendment will do if put into law, in addition to superfluously “banning” gay “marriage”:

• Make civil unions illegal.

• Wipe domestic partnership registration off the books in Ann Arbor, Lansing, Oakland County, and other Michigan localities.

• Make illegal and void any domestic partnership benefits granted by public institutions like the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and other government agencies.

Lest I be judged for exercising a partisan bias, you can judge for yourself the differing positions of the proposed amendment’s backers and opponents by clicking on the following links:

• Coalition for a Fair Michigan [in opposition to the proposed amendment]

• Citizens for the Protection of Marriage [in favor of the proposed amendment]