As many of you know, I have long been critical of how gay marriage advocates have promoted their cause.  Instead of talking about the benefits of marriage, why this ancient institution is good for gay people and why that, in turn, in good for society, they’ve focused more on demonizing the opponents of gay marriage while discussing marriage in terms certain not to offend anyone (well, except Republicans and other conservatives) in the gay movement.

To that end, I’m delighted of a new group, Republicans Against 8 has been established to appeal to Republican voters in California to defeat Proposition 8 on this fall’s ballot.  They’ll be holding an organizational meeting and training session this coming Saturday, August 16 from 10 AM until 2:30 PM in West Hollywood.  Please contact Scott Schmidt for the location and to RSVP.

The vote on 8 will not break down along traditional partisan lines.  Many demographic groups which lean Democratic, such as African-Americans and Latino voters, tend to have higher percentage of voters opposing gay marriage.  The deciding votes will thus likely Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters in suburban areas across the Golden State who tend to be more liberal on social issues.

It is imperative that we develop a strategy to reach out to them.  From what I’ve seen coming from the “No on 8” group leading the fight against the proposition (down to the group’s very slogan, “Equality for All”), it seems they’re more interesting in appealing to their own base than in reaching out to undecided voters.

I outlined a strategy to defeat the initiative in this post.  I hope the strategy this group develops will be closer to the ideas I have put forward there than to the stuff I’ve been seeing from the groups designated as the “official opposition” to the initiative.

UPDATE:  Over at the LA Weekly, Patrick Range McDonald writes about his meeting with Scott Schmidt and their conversation about Republicans Against 8.