Senema is privy to information about what happened in the Legislature on the last night of the most recent session that is probably not known on a national level but is known here in Arizona.

Under the leadership of Mormons in the Senate, during a meeting of The Committee of the Whole, the rules were broken and the Gay and Lesbian Senators were prevented by the Chair from exercising their right to filibuster, which they had staged hoping to tire out the Senators so that they would finally give up their last ditch efforts to get the gay marriage amendment on the ballot.

This was a good strategy because the senators had been up until 5 a.m. earlier that day and were exhausted. It was the longest session in Arizona history, and everyone was tired of talkng $1 billion shortfall in the budget, and were ready to go home. A Mormon senator was flown home from a reunion elsewhere to be the 16th and deciding vote for referring the amendment to the ballot (Arizona has 30 Senators).

However, a group of senators schemed in the background and came up with the idea to 'accidentally' turn off the microphones to our GLBT senators who were going back and forth on the filibuster, and in the confusion another senator was recognized to speak, moved to pass the amendment, and the gay marriage amendment was sent by referendum to the electorate. It happened so quickly when I watched the video I was stunned.

I transcribed that whole evening's proceedings and in doing so found that when the senators thought they weren't being overheard said, "We can do anything we want as long as we have 16 votes...change the rules...anything."

There was an Ethics Committee investigation that cleared the Chair of any wrongdoing.

So, that's Senema's background on this subject. Emboldened by their 'coup' at the Legislature, and wanting to follow the Brethren who spoke so clearly in a letter to the California congregations to support the gay marriage issue, they opened their pocketbooks and poured out a bounty of cash to fund passage of the amendment. Almost no one else in the State of Arizona feels as passionate about this amendment as the Mormons.

Currently, the imbalance is that they have 41 times as much money as we do, with at least 70 contributions from predominantly Mesa area of $10,000 or more.

When I first heard about Kyrsten Sinema's comments, I was a bit taken aback, too. But after a few seconds, I returned to reality - and reality is this:

The Mormon, Catholic, and many evangelical churches are villifying us from their pulpits and instructing their flocks to get out there and do everything they can to write discrimination against us into the state constitution. The Mormons, in particular, are donating huge sums of money TO HURT US. We are on the receiving end of a massive campaign based on unfairness and intolerance.

So Kyrsten Sinema dares to throw one punch back at them, and she gets criticized? Yes, perhaps she is playing upon the prejudice some people have towards Mormons. But they are already playing upon the prejudice many people have towards gays.

It would be nice to run a polite and gallant campaign, but look where that got Obama. He wanted to talk about the issues and not fling mud, but McCain ran nasty, lie-filled attack ads and took the lead. Finally, Obama took the gloves off and started swinging back, and the polls are turning back towards him.

Unfortunately, this is the way politics in America works. I wish it weren't so. It's not pretty sometimes, and if someone can't stand getting dusted up a bit they should stay out of the game.

Personally, I am tired of being attacked by these right-wingers, and I don't want to be turned into a constitutional second-class citizen. We need to stand up for ourselves and fight back.