Keep Your Money

So MassEquality has been running ads that say "It's wrong to vote on rights." MassEquality is a group devoted to preserving gay marriage in Taxachusetts. The situation is this: the courts legalized gay marriage a few years ago, finding it to be a right guaranteed in the state constitution. The only way to get rid of gay marriage now is to change the state constitution. This requires a referendum to be authorized by the legislature.

MassEquality opposes the authorization of a referendum, apparently on the grounds that it's unfair to vote on this issue. I bring this up for two reasons. First, I think it shows how advocacy groups can get too caught up in winning battles at the expense of winning the war. As a procedural matter, almost certainly the right thing to do is let the citizens of Taxachusetts have a vote. In fairness, if all you care about is gay marriage in Taxachusetts, and you're confident that you can bottle it up in the state legislature, then I guess this strategy makes sense. I'll note, though, that if gay marriage can't survive a vote in Taxachusetts, then I don't think it can win a vote anywhere in the US.

The other reason I bring it up is that I've given money to MassEquality in the past, and now I regret it a little. I thought I was giving money to help gay people, and now they're spending money putting ads in the New York Times that argue that gay marriage isn't a voting matter. This is crazy no matter what, I think. If your purpose is limited to marriage in Taxachusetts, then don't advertise in the New York Times. If you have ambitions to help gay people outside of Taxachusetts, then don't take such a counterintuitive and antagonistic position about marriage and democracy.

It's exasperating, so I guess my advice is to be cautious in giving money to advocacy groups. They can easily pursue an agenda that you don't support.